The poems of Richard Aldington

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•^N

HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM,
President World's Columbian Exposition.

THE WORLD'S CONGRESS

OF

Representative Women

A HISTORICAL RlfiSUM^ FOR POPULAR CIRCULATION OF

THE world's congress OF REPRESENTATIVE

WOMEN, CONVENED IN CHICAGO ON MAY

15, AND ADJOURNED ON MAY 22,

1893, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF

THE woman's branch OF

THE WORLD'S CONGRESS AUXILIARY

MRS. POTTER PALMER, PRESIDENT.

MRS. CHAI^lJSi HFNROTIN, Vicf-Pjresident.

Edited by MAY WRIGHT SEWALL,

CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE OF ORGANIZATION.

VOLUME II.

CHICAGO AND NtW YORK :

RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY.

1894.

Copyright, 1894, by Rand, McNally & Co.

' . • • •

• ! • »"• i • • ; -• • • ••

WORLD'S CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE

WOMEN.

CHAPTER IX.— CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT.

Extracts from Addresses Delivered in the General Congress and frok
Discussions of said Addresses by Ida A. Harper, Lillian Davis Dun>
CANSON, Laura M. Johns, Sarah C. Hall, Susan B. Anthony, and
Martha Strickland — Extracts from Addresses Delivered in thk
Department Congress of the National American Woman's Suffrage.
Association by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Helen H. Gardener —
Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Department Congress
of the Order of the Eastern Star by Mary A. Flint — Extracts
from an Address Delivered ,in the Department Congress of the
Loyal Women of American Liberty by AbbieA. C. Peaslie — Extracts
from an Address Delivered in the Department Congress of the.
Woman's National Indian Association by Mrs. William E. Burke —
Extracts from Addresses Delivered in the Report Congress by thr
Countess of Aberdeen, the Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, and the.
Baroness Thorborg-Rappe.

Women in Municipal Government — Address by Ida
A. Harper of Indiana.

WHEN the young people of the present generation
read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the speeches of
Garrison and Phillips, and the history of ante-
bellum days, they are filled with amazement. They are
unable to comprehend that the monstrous evil of slavery
existed and flourished in this beautiful country, and found
its defenders among ministers and church members and the
so-called best element of society. "And you named this
the land of the free,'* they exclaim, " when three million

(461)

M4iy54

452 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

'IJuman beiiigs-|^'dre held in bondage ! " And we scarcely
tnow Kow 'to 'exDlain to them the peculiar condition of
., 5:fu'bB4v9etitSrriteftt \rhose finer perceptions had become
dulled by long familiarity with this crime. So indignant
do they grow over the thought, we scarcely can persuade
them that they owe any respect to ancestors who tolerated
such an evil.

Just like this will it be, a few generations hence, as the
youth of that age read of a time when the women of the
•nation were held in a state of political bondage. " Do you
mean to say women were compelled to pay taxes and yet
were refused all representation ? " they will inquire. ** Did
they collect taxes from women to pay public officials and
then not permit them to hold any of the offices or vote for
those who did ? " " Did they compel women to obey the laws
and not let them help make the laws or select the law-
makers?" ** Did they allow men who had no property
to vote taxes on the property of women, to build rail-
roads, sewers, etc., and not let the women express their
wishes in respect to these improvements ? " ** Did the most
ignorant and degraded of foreigners, the lowest and most
vicious of Americans, the paupers and vagrants, and saloon-
keepers and drunkards, who happened to be men, have the
privilege and the power of the ballot, while the hosts of
church women, and the army of school-teachers, and all the
wives and mothers were disfranchised because they were
women ? " And when all these questions are answered in
the affirmative, these broad-minded and liberally educated
young people will be filled with contempt for the genera-
tions that sanctioned this terrible injustice. Then they
will begin to study the family history, and one will shout
with triumphant joy, "My father and mother protested
against these wrongs and fought long and bravely until
they were abolished ;" and another will discover, with deep
humiliation and a shame which never can be eradicated,
that his father voted against equal rights for women, and
that his mother was a "remonstrant."

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 453

Future generations never can understand the social and
political conditions which would not permit all citizens to
have a voice in the municipal government of the city in
which they lived, owned property, and paid taxes. Even
we who are living under these conditions can not quite
comprehend that absolute defiance of equity, justice, and
right on the part of men who, having the power, refuse to
grant to women the same privileges in the municipality
which they themselves enjoy. There is not an interest
which men have in the good government of the town or
city that is not shared by women. Take, for instance,
the question of street improvement, and we find women
even more anxious for well-paved and cleanly kept streets.
It is their dresses which must sweep up the debris ; it is
their thinly shod feet which must suffer from the cobble-
stones between the street railroad-tracks, and from the
inequalities of sidewalks and curbstones. Cleanliness is an
essential characteristic of women, and if they were invested
with the power to bring it about, the littered and dirty streets
of our cities would be a thing of the past in a very short time.
The woman who looks well to the ways of her own house-
hold would give equally as good attention to the ways of
the city in which she and her family must live. There is a
crying need for women in municipal housekeeping. In the
making of parks, the building of fountains, the planting of
shade-trees, women would feel even greater interest than
do men.

Then we come to the subject of public health; here
women are vitally interested. If sewers are defective,
if drainage is bad, if water is impure, women and children,
as well as men, must suffer ; and it is highly probable that
women, being less engrossed in business, would look into
these things with more care than men. There is an idea
that women are not deeply interested in these things, which
would not be strange, as they have always been debarred
from having any part in them, but facts do not bear out
this theory. The Association of Collegiate Alumnae, com-

464 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

posed of a good many hundreds of the most highly educated
women in the United States, with all the great questions of
the day before them, selected the subject of drainage and sew-
erage for their investigations. They have brought forward a
collection of valuable statistics and suggestions which have
attracted the respectful attention of those best acquainted
with these matters, and promise fruitful results. In New
York, Indianapolis, Chicago, and a number of cities, the
women have formed sanitary associations, and petitioned
the boards of health to permit them to cooperate in the
eflFort to keep the city clean and to enforce the rules of the
board. This, at first, has been refused, or grudgingly
granted, although after a trial their assistance has always
been pronounced to be desirable. But here we have the
spectacle, first, of women begging permission to do what is
plainly their duty and right as citizens to do ; second, per-
forming without pay a work which men are receiving a salary
for doing, and this salary women are taxed to pay. *' But,"
they say, " women do not know how to construct sewers,
lay off streets, build pavements, etc." Neither do men,
except the few who have learned the business. But women
have quite as much ability as men to select a good work-
man, to hold him to a contract, and to punish him for
dishonesty.

A part of municipal business is to build school-houses, em-
ploy teachers, and decide various questions relating to the
schools. Why should these matters be solely in the hands
of men ? Women, as a rule, are much more interested in
educational matters than men are, and know much more
about the school-life of the children, the courses of study, and
the fitness of teachers. They are quite as capable of select-
ing good locations and building suitable school-houses.
Over half the States in the Union have given women
school suflFrage and the right to serve on school boards.

" But,** they say, " women can not serve on the police
force." But they can, and do, and should serve as police
matrons, and the women of our cities are insisting that

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 455

there shall be not only matrons at the police stations, but
at the jails; and that girls and women in prisons and
reformatories shall be placed in charge of those of their
own sex. There are always enough men trying to get on
the police force to make it improbable that there will be
any demand for women to serve, and women can continue
in the future, as in the past, to contribute their share of the
taxes out of which the salaries of the police force are. paid.

The Girl's Reformatory and Woman's Prison of Indiana
is wholly under the management of women, and it is said
to be one of the most perfectly conducted in the world. In
the few instances where women have been placed on the
boards of State and municipal institutions the latter always
have been benefited. Why is there not a representation of
women on the boards of all State institutions, for the
insane, the blind, the deaf-mutes, the feeble-minded, the
orphans, the criminal ? Do not children and the afflicted,
above all others, need the attention and sympathy of
women ? Women have petitioned again and again to serve
on these boards, and have been refused. They are just as
much interested as men in these institutions ; their taxes
help support them ; why must women petition men for a
representation in their supervision and management ?

In our large cities the ordinances relating to reform and
morality are practically a dead letter. A new administra-
tion goes into power under the most solemn promises to
enforce existing laws. A few spasmodic efforts are made
and then the city government drops down to the dead level
of its predecessor. The saloons openly defy the law;
gambling flourishes practically unrestrained ; houses of evil
character are not questioned as to their business. Then
the people wax indignant with righteous wrath and demand
REFORM, in large capitals. The political managers of both
parties hold long and anxious consultations. Where can
they find candidates who will represent at the same time
reform and a constituency ? Nobody thinks that this demand
for reform represents the majority of the votes, but there

466 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

is just enough of a respectable sentiment to make it dan-
gerous to ignore it. This man can not get the saloon vote,
and that one can not get the foreign vote. Naturally it
is not so much of a question what he will do after he is
elected as whether he can be elected. As a result the con-
scientious voter finds himself with very little choice among
candidates. After the election the ofl&cial is continually
intimidated by the threat that he will injure his party if he
attempt any measure of reform.

And thus it goes, and thus it will continue to go until the
character of the constituency is changed. So long as
officials are dependent upon a constituency of the ignorant,
the degraded, the demoralized, the unprincipled, while
the representation of sobriety, intelligence, and integrity
remains a minority, just so long shall we have corruption,
and inefficiency, and cowardice in official life. Changing the
politics of an administration will not materially change
results. Nothing could be more absurd than the cry that
popular government is not a success. Let us first try it
before we pronounce it a failure. Only one-half of the peo-
ple have any voice in the management of affairs. The
better half, the half that stands for the church, the sanctity
of the marriage tie, the purity of -the home, the correct
rearing of the children, the promotion of temperance, the
preservation of virtue, the condemnation of vice — this half
has been entirely shut out from any participation in munic-
ipal government. And yet this class possesses in high
degree the qualities which are most needed and most con-
spicuously lacking.

If men had made a grand success of their work in munic-
ipal government, women might not be so persistent in
pressing their claims to a representation ; but men have
made a conspicuous and self-confessed failure. From everj^
city in the country comes the same cry of distress, " cor-
ruption, inefficiency, and cowardice on the part of officials,
and no hope of anything better." There is hope, there
is relief, if the debt-burdened and badly governed cities

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 457

will accept it. No general would give up a battle with
a great force in reserve, only waiting the call to move
forward. The women of the country are this reserve
corps. They are vitally interested in every question that
relates to the municipality ; they are intelligent, patriotic,
well-informed, and capable ; they have executive ability,
they are economical, they are resolute in enforcing what is
right ; they are exacting in demanding the fulfillment of
pledges. Bring the candidates for municipal office up to
the requirements of a constituency of women. Make the
officials answerable to a constituency of women. If men
can not be found who will be equal to these demands, then
take the city officials from the able and trustworthy women
of the community. But there are many men of business
ability, unimpeachable honesty, and high moral courage
who would be willing to serve their municipality, if the offices
could be separated from the influences of corrupt politics
and politicians. There are many such men who would
gladly take an interest in municipal politics, and the welfare
of the city, if they were not in a helpless minority. Re-
enforce these men with a constituency of women, who will
assist and sustain them ; recognize the rights of women
as citizens ; bring in the best element to counteract the
influence of the worst ; and then, and then only, shall we be
able to judge of the merits of a government by the people.

One Phase of Woman's Work for the Municipality —
Address by Lillian Davis Duncanson of Illinois.

A woman's home is, or should be, her first consideration,
and she should let no opportunity escape her to further the
interests of that home. A home under the influence of a
good and wise woman who is well informed in municipal
affairs is the very basis of a better city government. A
woman not only influences the minds of the young but in
a great measure directs their future lives. How necessary

458 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

then is it that women should be cognizant of municipal
affairs for the education of the future administrators !

It has been demonstrated in some of our wisest munici-
palities that causing women to interest themselves in this
matter has brought to the minds of the people questions of
vital importance heretofore unnoticed. Why ? Because the
keen eye and the quick perception belonging to woman have
been applied to the matter of government, with the cooler
qualities of man used heretofore alone in city aflfairs.

The judicious administration of a city government affects
more the home and its inmates, the women and children,
than the man in his business. Good municipal government
means good sanitary conditions and a healthful moral
atmosphere. Is it not a part of woman's work to see that
the surroundings for her home and children are the very
best ? Will casting a vote at the polls alone secure these con-
ditions ? The personal interest and energy of each woman
in a municipality is needed to secure these better condi-
tions for the present and future generations.

The long-talked-of emancipation of woman will not come
through voting alone, but must of necessity come through
broadening the minds of women and interesting them
in their home governments. Those of you who are visit-
ing Chicago should organize in your own cities societies or
leagues for the purpose of bringing this subject to the
minds of your women. Tell your women of the importance
of this question, and of the necessity for a thorough course
of study; aid the men by giving them the valuable sug-
gestions of thinking women, and all intelligent men will
honor women for their activity and help.

To the women of Chicago let me say, keep on with the
good work ; you have the support of the Chicago men and
the hearty indorsement of the Chicago press. I make
this appeal to the younger women, who seem to think that
time is long and their interest not yet needed. It is the
younger women, however, who must carry on the work so
well begun by the pioneers. Then go on with the work.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 4i59

The education of the masses is the foundation of munidpal
reform, and municipal reform the Mecca of our hopes.

Woman's Participation in Municipal Government —
Address by Laura M. Johns of Kansas.

The old State House in the city of Boston has been con-
verted into a storehouse for articles of historic value. On
the wall of what was once the House of Representatives
hangs the best evidence of what was the early idea of the
proper education for women ; not only the idea, but the idea
put into practice. This piece of evidence represents a
diploma of a girl of that time. You know the public
schools in the United States were not open at first to
girls. Think of it ! Public schools which excluded girls !
That was in the time when men made the laws for all,
without the interference of meddling women. However,
there was one of those meddling women — one of those
remote agitators — who made the almost suicidal attempt
to investigate the injustice of refusing the future mothers
and daughters opportunities for education. She went to
the school authorities, and there she made an appeal for the
admission of girls to the public schools. The reply made
was this: "What, shall our good tax money be used to
school shes?"

The education of girls at that time was very slight indeed.
I think we should not call it education now, but simply lack
of education. They had diplomas, made not of "sheep-
skin," but of canvas, inscribed by the hand of the fair
graduate. They did not call them diplomas; they called
them "samplers." You may have seen a sampler done by
your grandmother or great-grandmother. It is a piece of
canvas about twelve inches square, and at the top the alpha-
bet is worked out in infinitesimal stitches, and if the young
woman's education was very elaborate she added it in
Roman characters. This canvas was put under glass and

460 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

framed, and hung on the wall, the pride and admiration of
the family. The sampler that I saw was worked by the
daughter of a colonial family. She was rather more ambi-
tious than the ordinary g^rl, and she had undertaken to
represent the scene of the Garden of Eden. The tree of the
knowledge of good and evil arose exactly in the center and
stood exactly straight. The main branches were exactly at
right angles. The little twigs hung exactly at right angles,
and on these hung pumpkin-sized apples that filled me with
terror for the life of Eve, who reclined luxuriously on paris-
green grass, the blades of which stood up straight, but at
very irregular intervals. Eve was fearfully " made up.**
Her hair was arranged with most elaborate pains, and
fastened with a comb. It was very plain that Eve never had
attended a woman's congress, or been in a dress-reform
meeting, because in the outline of her figure no provision
was made for the proper functions of her heart, her stom-
ach, her liver, and her lungs. I feel certain that there was
no legislation against crinoline, because she had gone to the
full extent of hoop-skirts ; and Adam stood at the side of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil resplendent in colored
waistcoat and knee-breeches and buttoned shoes.

As far as this wonderful work is from historical accuracy,
and from truly artistic ideals, so far are the opponents of
women's advancement from comprehending the true mean-
ing and intent of this movement. They charge us with
usurpation of men's prerogatives, with repudiation, and
with nullification.

By our participation in the municipal government of
Kansas we have shown that we are not nuUifiers, but that
those who would deprive us of suffrage are nullifiers of
the decrees of the Almighty. The Almighty has decreed
that each human being shall be responsible for himself.
They charge us with repudiation because we are mothers ;
because we are home-makers and home-keepers, because
we have special duties ; this is to say that we are repudiators
because we would make youth safe, because we would

HON. BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH,
Secretary of the World's Congrress Auxiliary of th« World's Columbian Exposition

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 461

make the city streets clean, and because we would make the
girls safe. We have repudiated no special duty of women ;
we believe in those duties, and we urge the further exten-
sion of them to women. They say we are usurpers of their
prerogatives. To me it is very silly that women and men
should talk about women being usurpers of the preroga-
tives of man. The right has been ours as long as we have
lived in this country ; as long as we have brought up chil-
dren ; as long as we have paid our taxes. I say this right
has been ours, and that we have been deprived of the exer-
cise" thereof ; and now we are demanding that we shall be
permitted to exercise all the rights which are ours. But
these people say we are too conservative to make useful
voters ; our work shows that we are not too conservative to be
useful as voters. Our conservatism is not of the sort to
shrink from duty and right. Whenever a measure requires
courage we have not been found wanting. A Congressman
said to me not long ago that we have not a clearly defined
idea of what we would do with the ballot. I said, " I wish
you might visit us and satisfy yourself of the worth of the
women voters in the State of Kansas, and you would see that
they have very clearly defined ideas, and have carried those
ideas through and brought their work to a success. The
men say we are the despair of the parties. We often do
work at cross-purposes with them, and we arouse antag-
onism against our sex, but we usually gain our point in
securing the sort of government we desire. You ask why
the women of Kansas have voted so largely with the
Republican party ? I answer, for several strong reasons ;
one of these is gratitude of the women of the State of
Kansas to the party which extended to them the municipal
suffrage. Here is a lesson for all parties, especially in
those States in which woman suffrage bills are now pend-
ing. • We have now come to the time of urging the sub-
mission of a constitutional amendment which provides for
the full enfranchisement of the women of the State of
Kansas. It is apparent to all those who stand in the

31

462 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

suffrage watchtower that the conditions are peculiarly
favorable for the adoption of this amendment. We are
hopeful that within eighteen months we shall have full
citizenship and exercise all the powers of citizens in the
State of Kansas, and we entreat all friends of this nation to
bear these things in mind. Consider our situation, remem-
ber our needs, and come to our aid. While the conditions
are peculiarly favorable, the difficulties are tremendous.
The work will be gigantic. We are preparing for the most
vigorous woman suffrage campaign that has ever been
conducted in this nation. To do this we must have money.
All our work will be gratuitous, but we ask that you shall
help us financially and send us workers, and let each State
take upon itself the burden of sending to us a speaker, for
we shall organize in every school district, and every little
village, and every town. We do not propose to leave a foot
of the great State unworked. It is a great State, the State of
Kansas. It is four hundred miles long, two hundred miles
wide, a thousand miles deep, and as high as the sky. There
are many people who are coming there who must be con-
verted. There is a constant immigration, and we can not
leave a single thing undone. These people are constantly
coming in, and they must be met. We must teach them
what the full citizenship of women means. We must
answer all their opposing arguments, and at last lead them
triumphantly to the ballot-box to vote for the amendment
which shall make us politically free.

DR. SARAH C. HALL OF KANSAS DISCUSSED THE PRECEDING
PAPER AS FOLLOWS:

" We Kansas women were partially enfranchised in the
winter of 1 887, and in April came our spring electiorf. In
our State, as in others, the election is preceded by caucuses
or primaries. The women were curious to know what
share they would have in the primaries. About one-half

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 463

of the representatives elected to the nominating convention
were women."

Doctor Hall was herself a member of the nominating con-
vention. She gave an amusing account of the rapid growth
in the importance attached to her opinions after her election
to this position. Numerous callers visited her to obtain her
influence in the convention for themselves or for their
friends ; all, whatever their opinion concerning woman
suffrage before that time, expressed their pleasure that
women were to assist in the nomination of municipal offi-
cers. These facts were stated to show that the possession
of political equality by them would increase the respect
entertained for women in the average mind.

Organization among Women as an Instrument in Pro-
moting THE Interests of Political Liberty — Ad-
dress BY Susan B. Anthony of New York.

During the week of the presentation of the work of the
various organizations that have been represented in this
Congress, organizations from the Old World and the New,
I have been curious to learn that " all roads lead to Rome."
That is to say, it doesn*t matter whether an organization is
called the King's Daughters, the partisan, or non-partisan
Woman's Christian Temperance Union ; whether it is called
a Portia club, a sorosis, or a federation of clubs; a mis-
sionary society to reclaim the heathen of the Fiji Islands
or an educational association ; whether it is of the Jewish,
of the Catholic, of the Protestant, of the Liberal, or the
other sort of religion ; somehow or other, everybody and
every association that has spoken or reported has closed up
with the statement that what they are waiting for is the
ballot.

Another curious thing I have noted as I have listened to
their reports is, that one association, the Federation of Clubs,
which is only three years old — not old enough to vote yet —

464 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

can count forty thousand members ; that the Relief Associa-
tions of Utah, which is perhaps a quarter of a century
old, reports thirty thousand members ; that the Christian
Temperance Union, which is yet but a little past its
second decade, can report a half-million members; that
the King's Daughters, only seven years old, can report
two hundred thousand members; and so I might run
through with all the organizations of the Old and the New
worlds that have reported here, and I will venture to say
that there is scarcely one of them that does not report a
larger number than the Woman's Suffrage Association of
the United States. Now why is it ? I will tell you frankly
and honestly that all we number is seven thousand. This
is the number that reported this year to the national
organization, which is an association composed of all the
State societies and local societies that are united and that
pay a little money. These other societies have a fee, or
I suppose they do. But I want to say that all this great
national suffrage movement that has made this immense
revolution in this country, has done the work of agitation,
and has kept up what Daniel Webster called it, " this rum-
pus of agitation,** probably represents a smaller number of
women, and especially represents a smaller amount of
money to carry on its work than any other organization
under the shadow of the American flag. We have known
how to make the noise, you see, and how to bring the
whole world to our organization in spirit, if not in person.
I would philosophize on the reason why. It is because
women have been taught always to work for something else
than their own personal freedom ; and the hardest thing in
the world is to organize women for the one purpose of
securing their political liberty and political equality. It is
easy to congregate thousands and hundreds of thousands
of women to try to stay the tide of intemperance ; to try to
elevate the morals of a community ; to try to educate the
masses of the people ; to try to relieve the poverty of the mis-
erable ; but it is a very difficult thing to make the masses of

CIVIL LAW Ax\D GOVERNMENT. 466

women, any more than the masses of men, congregate in
great numbers to study the cause of all the ills of which
they complain, and to organize for the removal of that
cause ; to organize for the establishment of great principles
that will be sure to bring about the results which they so
much desire.

Now, friends, I can tell you a great deal about what the
lack of organization means, and what a hindrance this lack
has been in the great movement with which I have been
associated. If we could have gone to our State legislatures
saying that we had numbered in our association the vast
masses of the women; five millions of women in these
United States who sympathize with us in spirit, and who wish
we might gain the end ; if we could have demonstrated to
the Congress of the United States, and to the legislatures of
the respective States, that we had a thorough organization
back of our demand, we should have had all our demands
granted long ago, and each one of the organizations which
have come up here to talk at this great congress of women
would not have been compelled to climax its report with
the statement that they are without the ballot, and with the
assertion that they need only the ballot to help them carry
their work on to greater success. I want every single
woman of every single organization of the Old World and
the New that has thus reported, and that does feel that
enfranchisement, that political equality is the underlying
need to carry forward all the great enterprises of the world —
I want each one to register herself, so that I can report them
all at Washington next winter, and we will carry every
demand which you want.

I want you to remember that Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery
is to make the closing speech, and that this meeting is not
adjourned ; and I want all of you to bear in mind that the
two young women who have made this Congress possible
are my children. They were educated in this very small
company, this small organization of which I am a member ;
and I am proud to say that that organization has gradu-

466 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ated a great many first-class students, and among them
none so near to my heart as May Wright Sewall and
Rachel Foster Avery.

SAME SUBJECT — ADDRESS BY LILLIE DEVEREUX BLAKE OF

NEW YORK.

I am going to call your attention to two gjeat reasons
why we ought to have the right to vote. The primary
reason is because we ought to have industrial equality with
men. What is the reason that so many women are asking
for the privilege of the ballot ? It has been said that no
women except a few unhappy wives and disappointed old
maids want to vote. Who, then, are the people that have
been occupying the platforms of this Congress? What does
political liberty mean for woman? It has been bitterly
said that in the markets of the world there is nothing so
cheap as womanhood, and it is literally true. Place that
saying beside this other, that woman is to-day paid for her
dishonor better than for anything else. Now we are asking
for these privileges in order that the humblest and the
highest workers may have equal pay with men for equal
work. Not better, but the same. You ask, ** What good
will the ballot do ? " We have in the State of New York
thirty thousand women teachers, paid only about two-thirds
as much as the men who work beside them, who are as
good teachers, if not better than the men. Suppose these
women were voters ; they would then control every assem-
bly district in the State. You will see then why these
women want to have the right to vote.

One other point is that women ought to have equality
before the law in all respects, and protection under it.
There is an infamous law which still prevails through the
length and breadth of the United States, with only a few
exceptions, which gives the father the absolute control of
the child. Now in New York, within a few weeks past, the

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 467

law has been changed so that the father and the mother are
joint guardians of the child. How long are we going to
have the protection of this law? In i860 a liberal law was
passed, and it stood for more than eleven years on the
statute books, and then an infamous legislator, for the
benefit of a friend, had the law repealed, and for twenty
years we had to endure that awful law. We have now
had the law amended, but how long can we keep it? I
tell you without the ballot, without the protection it gives,
we are not secure in any right. The ballot is the founda-
tion of political liberty.

On the dome of the Capitol of the United States there
is the Statue of Liberty. All of you who have ever seen it
recollect how she is represented. When that statue was to
be designed a committee of Congress was appointed to
determine upon the design, and upon that committee was
Jefferson Davis, then a Senator of the United States. One
of the members proposed to represent the Goddess of Lib-
erty with an ordinary Phrygian cap. Jeflferson Davis said,
"No, that cap was worn by a slave; Liberty has always
been free. Put upon her a helmet.'* And that is the way
that Liberty stands, helmeted, and with sword and shield.
If women were made free to-day, the Phrygian cap would
be appropriate, because we have so long been slaves. We
hope the time will come when emancipated woman will
stand with the helmet on her head, with the shield of purity
on her arm, and the sword of truth in her hand.

Woman's Position and Influence in the Civil Law —
Address by Martha Strickland of Michigan.

A consideration of woman's position in the civil law —
that is, in our present system of jurisprudence, more prop-
erly called " municipal law" — necessarily involves a con-
sideration of our earliest English ancestors, of their mental
and physical qualities, the climate and material environ-

468 CONGRESS OF REPRESKNTATIVE WOMEN.

inent in which they lived, their origin and growth as a
people, and their development into a nation — all, in short,
which goes to make up the character of a government.

M. Taine, in his " History of English Literature," says :
*' At the basis of the present, as of the past, ever reappears
an inner and persistent cause, the character of a race."
This is as true of the jurisprudence as of the religion and
literature of a people. The law under which we live to-day
in this country is made up of common law and sicatute law,
the unwritten and the written law, and much the greater
part of our rights and duties is found in that body of legal
principles which became established through the usage of
the English people to the time of the American Revolu-
tion. This is the source, primarily, of all the rights and
disabilities, the privileges and duties of the American
woman of the present. To find our status in the law we
necessarily turn to this vast body of precedents, and we
find that the English common law bears the stamp of the
early Anglo-Saxon character. The Saxons were a warlike
and a brawny race ; they loved freedom, but it was the
freedom of a semi-savage state; they maintained rights,
but such rights as military minds conceive; they fought
for equality, and the fighters were the ones who obtained
it ; they established institutions bearing the stamp of their
own character, and that these institutions were in the like-
ness of sturdy and material natures may be traced in the
Constitution of England and in the principles of the com-
mon law. Notwithstanding the occupation of the British
Island by the Romans, their mental development and
esthetical culture found no congenial home in the rude
time and among the rude inhabitants of the northern
island, by whom it could not be assimilated; when, there-
fore, the Southern conquerors withdrew, the British nature
reasserted itself.

The Normans carried to England the pride of conquest
and feudal learning. They fettered the people with the
most rigorous of feudal governments and held the bold and

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 469

fearless Saxon spirit in subjection ; still the hardy norf hem
stock made its influence felt, and stamped with its charac-
ter the institutions which became established in England.
Vital through the oppressions and suppressions of the
conquest, the Anglo-Saxon rights became the rights of
Norman England. For centuries in the south of Europe
there had existed a civilization — the Romaa — in which the
idea of freedom included the freedom of wife and mother to
a considerable degfree ; but to the northward was developed
a semi-civilization where freedom, equally cherished, per-
tained to the only recognized force in society — the man.
In a wilderness, and among warlike tribes, it takes mascu-
line force and masculine courage to maintain life for self
and family ; and to these qualities would naturally attach
the rights and duties of social government. Hence, while
Southern Europe, in the Roman civilization, presents to the
historian a society made up of individuals where the war-
like and the peaceful, the muscular and the nervous, the
masculine and the feminine natures have almost equal free-
dom — a society where the individual is the unit of govern-
ment — Northern Europe, and especially the British Islands,
presents to the same observer a society whose fundamental
principle is that the family is the unit of government. The
sunny skies of Italy smiled upon the queenly mother, the
inspirer of youths, but the foggy air of Britain enveloped
a servant ministering to the physical wants of her house-
hold. Held close in the protection of the master the Saxon
mother reared her family and labored for the future, as she
could not have done in a sphere forbidden to her alike by
natural and human law ; the muscular, the material rep-
resentatives of the human race ruled the civilization
which founded the British Government, and, as already
said, their rights, their legal privileges are the ones embod-
ied in the common law. To the time of the American
Revolution this common law is our law. Since then it has
been modified in two ways — by a subtle, almost impercept-
ible and gradual change, caused by the development of the

470 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

minds of our jurists to a broader perception of the rights
and needs of humanity; and by statutory enactments
which directly and positively change the law from time to
time in certain particulars. It is the province of the courts
not to make law but to expound it, and were it not for the
inevitable change in the perceptions of mankind as to the
principles of right and justice there would be no modifi-
cation of the common law ; but it is impossible for many
judges of varied experiences always to expound the same
principles in the same way, and it therefore follows that a
minimum amount of change does take place in the unwrit-
ten law of a people. To this fact woman owes in a slight
degree an improved position in the law ; that which is held
in one period by one court to be justifiable, in accord with
the rights of a husband and father, is held in a later period
by another court to be extreme cruelty and violative of the
right and privilege of the wife and mother ; and thus in
respect to physical coercion, to domicile, and to the nurt-
ure and control of children, the law of husband and wife,
and therefore the status of woman, has been modified.

It is, however, in the statute law of America, and particu-
larly in that of the more western States, that we find the
real innovations which have removed the common law
disabilities of woman, so far as yet they have been re-
moved. The statute law, however, never applied to the
whole body of the common law, but only to certain par-
ticular features of it, as the specific matters were brought
from time to time to the attention of our legislators. It
follows that the changes are fragmentary, and to a con-
siderable extent inconsistent and inharmonious with the
common law, so that the real status of woman to-day is
based only upon the old common-law disability growing
out of the theory of the unity of the family, while at the
same time here and there she holds a position of con-
siderable freedom and power. She still is, if married,
only a part of an entity. She lives in a state of covert-
ure ; that is, a subject condition in which she is covered,

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 471

or held, or protected by the stronger member of the family
— her husband. Therefore, he represents her ; therefore,
her domicile follows his; therefore, his judgment as to
the care, nurture, and control of her children is authori-
tative. As a matter of law, in nearly all of the States of
the Union the man possesses by virtue of his fatherhood
the right to the custody and control of the children ; but
by statutory changes in most of the States he does not
now, as formerly, upon marriage, become possessed of such
property as his wife may then own ; still, he has the right
to-day (in spite of the statutes giving to a married woman
the right to own and hold property hers before marriage,
and that acquired by gift or purchase afterward) to collect
her wages in the most liberal and enlightened States of
the Union.

No longer than one year ago the Supreme Court of the
State of Michigan directly held this doctrine, thereby merely
announcing a familiar principle of the common law which
had never in that State been repealed. The case is an
interesting one from the illustration it presents of the fact
that the most enlightened judgment of to-day may be
wholly in advance of the existing law. The circumstances
were these :

An elderly gentleman of property becoming ill was taken
into the home of a neighbor and by the woman of the house
kindly nursed until his death. When his estate was being
administered in the Probate Court the woman presented
her claim for services ; it was denied. There was no dispute
of her having performed them, nor of their value, but the
court held that the woman, being a wife, had no right of
action ; that her services belonged to her husband, and must
be considered as rendered for him ; that the claim being made
in her name, and there being no evidence of an assignment
to her of the claim from her husband, she had no right of
action and could not recover. The case was carried
through the circuit to the Supreme Court of the State,
where the doctrine of the Probate Court was reaffirmed.

472 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

In another case passed upon by the same court at the same
term a similar affirmation of a common-law disability was
made, although, owing to the nature of the case, it operated
to the immediate benefit of the wife. A married woman
owning certain real estate neglected to pay her taxes,
whereupon the marshal, with a tax-warrant for their collec-
tion, levied upon her personal property, consisting of cloth-
ing and other personal possessions. A part of the property
levied upon had belonged to her before marriage, but most
of it consisted of clothing purchased and made in the
" ordinary course of married life," as the court stated in
rendering the decision. The husband thereupon brought
replevin for the property from the marshal, setting up, as
of course he must, his personal ownership of the property,
being careful to replevin only that which had been pur-
chased during marriage. This case also found its way to
the Supreme Court, and the right of action in the husband
was maintained and he recovered the property ; thus, you
see, by a curious anomaly, wresting the common-law disa-
bility of the wife to the purpose supposed by some to be
inimical to the common-law unity of the family, that of a
wife's wearing her husband's clothes.

Perhaps in no one feature of the law has there been
greater change by statutory enactment than in that of dis-
solution of the marriage bond in case of ill-doing of one of
the parties. The statutes of the States are too various for
presentation here, but in a general way certain principles
characterizing the innovations may be given. In spite of
the popular belief to the contrary, fostered by the sensual
and sometimes incomplete newspaper reports of the pro-
ceedings in divorce cases, it is a principle of universal
application that dissolution can not be had where both
parties are at fault. It is only for evil-doing on the part
of one, with right-doing on the part of the other that
divorce is legally granted. Again, contrary also to a some-
what prevalent opinion, divorce is not granted for incom-
patibility, and never is it granted from the standpoint of the

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 473

law when desired by both parties. The one must have done
wrong, contrary to the wish of the. other, and that other
have sought redress against the desire of the one, if relief
is to be obtained. Should the knowledge of an agreement
between the parties for the obtaining of the divorce come
to the court before decree the case is lost ; should it come
after decree the divorce is held invalid. This wrong-doing
must be that specified by the statute of the particular State
in which relief is sought, and that "State must be the State
in which the one seeking relief has bona fide residence.
Over and over again divorces have been held invalid by the
courts of the State in which the applicant really resided,
though granted by a sister State in which residence had
been falsely claimed. It may be said that, as a matter of
fact, divorces are frequently granted where mutually
desired. This is very true, but the mutal desire does not,
and must not, appear in the proceedings. Should it do so
it would be fatal to the case. What appears in these
cases is that the defendant does not defend, obviously
because he is guilty and therefore has no defense, so argues
the law ; but even then the complainant must make his or
her case. Decree for divorce can not be taken upon the
confession of judgment. True, it is not necessary to make
so strong a case against one not defending, but it must be
made by proof establishing clearly the commission of the
wrong-doing prescribed by the statute as a cause for disso-
lution. The self-respecting lawyer takes infinitely more
care in his preparation and presentation of a divorce case
when it is defended than in any other, for his chances of
success are at the minimum, the number of victories in
contested divorce cases averaging less than in any other
kind of litigation, with the possible exception of litigation
between a person friendless and in poverty and a powerful
corporation. The theory of the law of divorce is that it is
granted to the innocent party as a relief from the statutory
wrong-doing of the other, and as a punishment to the guilty
one. The grounds of divorce provided by the laws of the

474 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

more liberal States are, generally speaking, adultery, impo-
tency, extreme and inhuman cruelty, gross and wanton
nonsupport of wife with ability to support, and desertion.
In the case of desertion especially there must be unwilling-
ness on the part of the innocent party. It is not desertion
if the one deserted is willing the other shall go. The
statutes in this case provide the period for which the deser-
tion shall have continued before constituting' a ground for
divorce.

These are in the main the principles underlying the
present divorce laws. As before said, the statutes are not
uniform, many of the States permitting divorce for the sole
cause, adultery ; others prescribing more than the one cause,
but not all of those given above. There is, too, a great dif-
ference in the holdings of the court as to what constitutes
gross and wanton non-support and extreme cruelty. I know
of a case in which a learned judge writing a dissenting
opinion, and holding that a decree of divorce should not
be granted, intimated that the evidence showed the hus-
band had choked his wife, and had given her physical blows,
but notwithstanding, gathering from the testimony that she
had married her husband with a view of support, held, to
quote his language, that " she should be prepared to abide
by the ordinary inconveniences of married life." On the
other hand, it is not uncommon for the judicial mind to see
that certain phases of conduct wholly apart from physical
abuse and indignity may constitute more extreme cruelty
than any amount of physical violence. Thus there is great
latitude for different administration of the same statute by
the exercise of discretion by the various courts. Especially
do we find this variance in the administration of the law
relating to the custody and control of children in cases of
separation of the parents. Where they do not separate,
there is, as we have already seen, no question as to this, for
the guardianship vests in the father by virtue of his father-
hood. In case of separation he formerly took the child.
Now some of the most liberal statutes provide that the

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 475

children below a specified age shall be put in the custody
and control of the mother, and that those over that age
shall remain under the control of the father; but these
statutes are themselves subject to the discretion of the
judge upon the point of the welfare of the child, and no
judge is required to make other disposition upon this point
than that which he deems desirable. It follows, therefore,
that in some Courts children are frequently confided to the
mother, while in other courts, under the same statute, and
upon the same state of facts, they are retained by the
father.

As a consequence of the father's legal guardianship of
the child, he has the right to appoint the testamentary
guardian, and formerly he could do so without regard to
the wishes of the mother. In certain States this right has
been modified ; in others it remains unchanged. In Michi-
gan, although he may appoint the testamentary guardian,
the Probate Court, before confirming the appointment, on
the probating of the will, is required to cite the mother to
appear before it and g^ve her view of the appointment.
There is nothing, however, which binds the judge to
regard the mother's view, so that really the law is not
greatly improved.

The legal unity of husband and wife has perhaps been
more strenuously retained in the matter of their testifying
for or against each other in the courts, and also in regard
to an action by the wife for the tort of the husband, than in
any other particular. In some States if the consent of the
husband or wife is given the testimony of the other may be
taken. In other States not even this is allowed. Until
very recently the wife has been supposed to be incompetent
to bring an action of tort against her husband. In so far as
the statutes of the various States have removed common-
law disabilities and secured positive rights to women, they
have done so by departing from the common-law theory
of the family as the unit of society and recognizing the
distinctive individuality of the married woman. It must

476 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ever be that partial changes, not affecting the underlying
principles of law, can give but incomplete relief.

So far the law has been considered with regard to the
status or position of the married woman. The changes
relating to woman irrespective of marriage are chiefly
those gfranting the franchise and relating to her right to
office. In many of the States woman has modified suffrage.
This is granted generally upon matters relating to schools.
In a few of the States she has municipal suffrage, and in
one full suffrage.

Her right to office is more extended. She has a common-
law right to the offices called ministerial as distinguished
from judicial. To the former, the English decisions from
James I. down establish her right. This right was first
recognized as a consequence of her inheritance of property.
In early times in England she could not inherit the estates
of her ancestors; but later improper feuds came to be
recognized in the law, and these, it was held, might descend
to a woman. Finally her right to the offices attached to her
estate was recognized, and from this beginning is to be
traced her common-law right to office. The question fre-
quently came before the courts in those early days, and the
right was sustained upon the theory that the offices being
ministerial their functions were susceptible of exercise
through a deputy, and therefore woman, being able to
appoint a deputy, might hold the title to the office. In such
offices as require discretion deputies can not act, and these
she could not hold. Curiously enough, this distinction has
led to the anomaly that under it woman to-day is eligible
to offices for which she is perhaps by nature least fitted;
while many, regarding her fitness for which there can be
no question, can not be occupied by her unless through
statutory provisions. She may hold those in which a
deputy may be appointed, though it be of so uncongenial a
nature as that of constable or sheriff ; she may not hold
such as require the exercise of discretion, though it be one
so congenial as that of legislator, governor, or judge.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 477

Leaving the subject of woman's status in the law and
approaching that of her influence, we come from a field
rich with realities to one almost barren, unless it be in the
promises of future possibilities. Woman*s direct influence
in the law can scarcely be said to exist, except in the few
localities, already mentioned, where she has the franchise.
Neither in the making of the law nor in administering it
has she any direct influence ; the most she can be said to
have is the right of petition, and this right she is every-
where claiming. In many States this indirect influence has
been felt in legislation relating to education, temperance,
and sexual morality. There can be no question but that
the sentiment of women in this direction has had a power-
ful indirect influence, and that our laws are from year to
year becoming more and more (by fragments, of course) in
harmony with their views.

It is in the administration of the law that her influence
is least felt. So recently and so limitedly has she been
received in the courts as an attorney, and so wholly is
the entire personnel of the courts, with this single excep-
tion, made up of men, that her influence there can scarcely
be claimed as available. This, in my judgment, is one of
the most lamentable features of woman*s position and in-
fluence in the law. The differences between man's nature
and woman's nature are a bar, eternal as are nature's laws,
to the equitable administration of justice by men alone.
Men can not know all the subtle springs of feeling and
action hidden within woman's complex organization. They
can not measure her needs by their own, nor mark for her
the path which her own nature and her nature's God traces
through the wilderness of human thought and action.
And yet from the paved market-place in ancient Rome,
where sat the magistrates for the transaction of their busi-
ness, to the wider forum of civilized America, woman's
legal rights have been brought to the bar of masculine
knowledge and manly chivalry. The result is that women
have suffered, and through women all humanity. For

82

478 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

broad as is man's outlook upon the world of knowledge,
and deep as are the well-springs of his love and tenderness
for woman, that complete appreciation of needs and innate
sympathy with wants which members of one sex alone can
have for one another, and which is the golden heart of
justice, has been wanting to his adjudications. It is some-
times claimed that men are better friends to women than
women are to one another. All womanly, worldly expe-
rience denies this. Men are, it is true, generous lovers;
but when it comes to a matter of simple, true, appreciative
friendship, that of women for women can not be surpassed,
and is equaled only by that of men for men. There is an
innate knowledge that comes from sameness of organiza-
tion, which seizes upon the difficulties of life and solves the
problem for weal or woe without delay or difficulty. This
innate knowledge women have of women, and men of men ;
but the distinct individuality of the sexes forbids it to one
sex of the other, and so we find that the administration of
law involving women's interests to-day wants the complete
justice which the advanced thought of the time demands.
Not only must women, for the establishment of their com-
plete rights, be represented at the bar by those of legal
knowledge who are capable of viewing their interests from
the standpoint of perfect sympathy, but they should be able
to take their rights and wrongs to courts capable of the
same perfect understanding, and submit their causes to
juries of their fellow-women — to juries of their unques-
tioned peers. Perhaps among all the innovations in
Edward Bellamy's wonderful book, ** Looking Backward,"
the most important is the one answering this need. He
pictures to us a system in which causes where both parties
are women are tried before women judges, while those
where the litigants are a man and a woman are tried before
judges of either sex. This is what we need now ; and it is
as well adapted to our own time as to the year 2000 — at
least it is as well adapted as any scheme for the advance-
ment of women can be under our present industrial system.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 479

It may not be necessary that in every case where women
are litigants only women should be upon the bench and
jury. It probably would be better that both sexes be rep-
resented even then. There can not be as rounded, com-
plete, harmonious action in any department of life by men
or women alone as there can be by both.

Humanity is dual in its nature, and the masculine and
feminine qualities gain additional strength and perfection
through union with each other. Possibly, nay, I would
say certainly, woman's judgment upon woman might well
be tempered by that mercy toward women which is the
proverbial quality of man. But the knowledge each sex
has of its own needs is, after all, the chief requisite in
judge and jury ; and if the qualities of both sexes are not to
be brought into play, then by all means let women's inter-
ests be the especial care of women, and men's interests be
the especial care of men. In the practice of the law the
opinion has been forced upon me that not only is there
need of women lawyers, but of women in all parts of our
judicial system. Now it is a mother asking for the
custody of her child, and that too in a State where the
laws are so liberal that in case of separation of father and
mother the mother 'v& prima facie entitled to its custody, and
the burden of proof is upon the father to show the mother's
unfitness; but the judge, admitting the mother's perfect
competency, gives the custody of a little deaf and dumb
girl of nine years to the father, because, as stated by him,
" the father appears to love the child, and I think would
suffer very much in giving it up." Again, when an un-
happy wife and mother wins relief from bonds not longer
to be endured because of the fault of the husband and
father, and is given, as she should be, the custody of her
children, it is of almost universal practice for the judge, in
dividing the property acquired during the marriage, to give
the wife often less, but never more, than one-third of the
estate. From this third she must support and rear her
children and maintain herself, handicapped as she is both

480 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

by her sex and her guardianship of her little ones ; while
their father, with none but himself to support, and better
equipped by nature and social economic conditions for a
struggle with the world, is permitted to retain two-thirds
of the whole. The judge is familiar with the wants of
men in the business world ; he knows the needs of the man
for capital, and he reasons, ** If I take from him more
than a third of his property he will be crippled, and perhaps
can not keep his business standing," etc.; and so, without
meaning to be heartless or unfair, he, because of his incom-
petency to view the situation of the woman from the stand-
point ^of experience, fails in complete equity. A woman
would know full well the difficulties to be met by a mother
thus thrown upon her own resources, and would add the
weight of her knowledge to the decision. There is, per-
haps, in the whole range of our daily experience no more
glaring inconsistency than the failure to give women their
full property rights, while at the same time deprecating
their entering various new fields for their own and their
children's support. " Women should remain in the home :
they have higher and holier duties to perform than that of
bread-winning," is cried from every side ; and then straight-
way, if their rightful protector fails in his duty, instead of
giving his substance to the woman so that she may remain
in the home and fill her " proper sphere," the court gives
her a paltry part, and she is left to perish in that home, or
to go out into the world and compete with man for daily
bread.

But space does not admit of relating the cases which have
demonstrated to me the truth of my position. I must con-
tent myself with showing its antecedent probability from
propositions admitted by all, and the assertion that my expe-
rience confirms it. In the relations of husband and wife,
parent and child, guardian and ward — all the domestic rela-
tions, in short — a little thought will show that woman's
knowledge — woman's instinct, if so you please to call it —
should find play in their adjustment. What can the man

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 481

and father know of the vital interests of the woman and
mother? He can learn something from what he sees as,
standing upon the eminence of fatherhood, he looks up to
the summit of motherhood towering beyond him. But, ah !
who shall say what verdant depths, what crystal springs of
thought and feeling are hidden beyond his ken ! Do not
misunderstand me. I am not arraigning man's wisdom,
man's love of justice, or that attribute which gives the charm
of poesy to life's prosaic details — man's chivalry; I am
merely saying that there are some things men do not know,
that men can not learn, and that women do know. Neither
do I arraign the past, nor fail to see how natural it is that
we to-day are suffering the necessary results of having out-
grown our environment. Our civilization had its birth in a
crude and barbarous age ; and especially, as we have seen,
did our common law spring from a condition far (different
from the present. It had its origin and early development
when the material interests of life were uppermost ; when
the muscular, the aggressive qualities of human nature
were the ones required for the establishment of human
rights and the maintenance of human government. And
so man, by nature endowed with the ability to cope
with the necessities of those times, was the active element
in society and government, and naturally gave the color-
ing of his nature to the jurisprudence which developed.
In this jurisprudence woman, the member of the human
race representing by her weaker physical organization and
her peculiar qualities of mind the more esthetic and ethical
interests of the race, held the place of ward, so to speak,
to the dominant sex. It was sought to protect her, that
her high mission of motherhood might not be jeopardized
by contact with the crude and incongruous influences of
outer life in a material age. And it is well. Who shall say
what development the race may not have reached from
this very protection ; from the seclusion incident to the con-
dition of coverture and dependence ! We can not know.
The most that we can say is that whatever of greatness and

482 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

glory womanhood has reached has been achieved under the
conditions men have imposed. That other conditions would
have produced better results is not known, and does not to
me seem probable. Now, however, all is changed, or at
least is changing. The material world is well-nigh subdued.
Man's dominion over the earth is accomplished. There is
developing a desire for a more esthetic and ethical era
among mankind. After a little, upon the world of human
life there will burst the full day of woman's emancipation.
In that day will be recognized the distinct individuality of
her nature, and the need for full and perfect justice, that
her qualities of head and heart may be brought into play.
Then in the forum she will take her place by the side of
her brother man, endowed with full powers to administer
justice. The two shall form a perfect whole, each part
supplementing the other, and each giving to the other
the benefit of a different organization and a different
experience.

From this view of woman's position and influence in the
civil law let us gather hope for the future of humanity.
Gradual as the change from her condition of dependence
to her present anomalous position of semi-independence
has been, we can see that it is in the logic of human
progress for her to attain equality.

The Ethics of Suffrage — Address by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton of New York.

The basic idea of the republic is the right of self-govern-
ment ; the right of every citizen to choose his own repre-
sentatives and to make the laws under which he lives ; and
as this right can be secured only by the exercise of the
right of suffrage, the ballot in the hands of every qualified
person indicates his true political status as a citizen in a
republic.

The right of suffrage is simply the right to govern one's

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 483

self. Every human being is bom into the world with this
right, and the desire to exercise it comes naturally with the
responsibilities of life. " The highest earthly desire of a
ripened mind," says Thomas Arnold, " is the desire to
take an active share in the great work of government."
Those only who are capable of appreciating this dignity
can measure the extent to which women are defrauded as
citizens of this great republic ; neither can others measure
the loss to the councils of the nation of the wisdom of rep-
resentative women.

When men say that women do not desire the right of
suffrage, but prefer masculine domination to self-govern-
ment, they falsify every page of history, every fact of
human nature. The chronic condition of rebellion, even of
children against the control of nurses, elder brothers, sisters,
parents, and teachers, is a protest in favor of the right of
self-government. Boys in schools and colleges find their
happiness in disobeying rules, in circumventing and defy-
ing teachers and professors ; and their youthful pranks are
so many protests against a government in which they have
no voice, and afford one of the most pleasing topics of
conversation in after life.

The general unrest of the subjects of kings, emperors,
and czars, expressed in secret plottings or open defiance
against self-constituted authorities, shows the settled hatred
of all people for governments to which they have not
consented. But it is said that on this point women are
peculiar, that they differ from all other classes, that being
dependent they naturally prefer being governed by others.
The facts of history contradict the assertion. These show
that women have always been, as far as they dared, in a
state of half -concealed resistance to fathers, husbands, and
all self -constituted authorities ; as far as good policy per-
mitted them to manifest their real feelings they have done
so. It has taken the whole power of the civil and canon
law to hold woman in the subordinate position which it is
said she willingly accepts. If woman had no will, no self-

484 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

assertion, no opinions of her own to start with, what mean
the terrible persecutions of the sex in the past ?

So persistent and merciless has been the effort to dominate
the feminine element in humanity, that we may well won-
der at the steady resistance maintained by woman through
the centuries. She has shown all along her love of individ-
ual freedom, her desire for self-government; while her
achievements in practical affairs and her courage in the
great emergencies of life have vindicated her capacity to
exercise this right.

These, one and all, are so many protests against absolute
authority and so many testimonials in favor of self-govern-
ment ; and yet this is the only form of government that has
never been fairly tried.

The few experiments that have been made here and
there in some exceptional homes, schools, and territories
have been only partially successful, because the surround-
ing influences have been adverse. When we awake to the
fact that our schools are places for training citizens of a
republic, the rights and duties involved in self-government
will fill a larger place in the curriculum of our universities.

Woman suffrage means a complete revolution in our gov-
ernment, religion, and social life ; a revision of our Constitu-
tion, an expurgated edition of our statute laws and codes, civil
and criminal. It means equal representation in the halls of
legislation and in the courts of justice ; that woman may be
tried by her own peers, by judges and advocates of her
own choosing. It means light and sunshine, mercy and
peace in our dungeons, jails, and prisons ; the barbarous
idea of punishment superseded by the divine idea of refor-
mation. It means police matrons in all our station-houses,
that young girls when arrested during the night, intoxi-
cated and otherwise helpless, may be under the watchful
eye of judicious women, and not left wholly to the mercy
of a male police.

In religion it means. the worship of humanity rather than
of an unknown God ; a church in which the feminine ele-

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 485

ment in Christianity will be recognized, in which the
mother of the race shall be more sacred than symbols, sac-
raments, and altars ; more worthy of reverence than bishops
and priests.

A government and a religion that do not recognize the
complete equality of woman are unworthy our intelligent
support. And what does woman suffrage mean in social
life ? Health and happiness for women and children ; one
code of morals for men and women; love and liberty,
peace and purity in the home ; cleanliness and order in the
streets and alleys; good sanitary arrangements in the
homes of the poor ; good morals and manners taught in
the schools; the crippling influence of fear of an angry
God, a cunning devil, censorious teachers, severe parents,
all lifted from the minds of children, so long oppressed
with apprehensions of danger on every side. We can not
estimate the loss to the world in this repression of indi-
vidual freedom and development through childhood and
youth.

Woman suffrage means a new and nobler type of men
and women, with mutual love and respect for each other ;
it means equal authority in the home ; equal place in the
trades and professions ; equal honor and credit in the world
of work.

Our civilization to^ay is simply masculine. Everjrthing
is carried by force, and violence, and war, and will be until
the feminine element is fully recognized and has equal
power in the regulation of human affairs. Then we shall
substitute cooperation for competition, persuasion for coer-
cion ; then we shall have everywhere

Two heads in council, two beside the hearth.

Two in the tangled business of the world,

Two in the liberal offices of life,

Two plummets dropped for one to sound the abyss

Of science and the secrets of the mind.

486 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

If woman suffrage means all this, surely it is the greatest
question ever before any nation for consideration, and
imperatively demands the prompt attention of the leading
minds of our day ; and women themselves must make this
the primal question in their own estimation.

The enfranchisement of women in England and America
would give new dignity, self-respect, and hope to the women
of every nation in the uttermost isles of the sea.

It is a singular fact that we have never been able to enlist
any large number of women to labor with enthusiasm for
their own emancipation. They will work with the utmost
self-sacrifice for temperance, political parties, churches,
foreign missions, charity fairs, monuments, anything and
everything but their own emancipation. I heard a young
clergyman say that the ladies of his congregation had given
him in one year thirteen pairs of embroidered slippers and
twenty dressing-gowns, and probably not one of them would
give a dollar a year for a woman suffrage paper ; and yet
this is the most momentous reform that has yet been
launched on the world — the first organized protest against
the injustice which has brooded over the character and
destiny of one-half the human race.

A tariff for revenue, a silver currency, the annexation of
Hawaii, our fisheries in Bering Straits, the comparative
merits of the Republican and Democratic parties, or even
the success of the World's Fair — important as these all
are — sink into utter insignificance when compared with the
emancipation of one-half the human race, involving as it
does the higher development of the whole race.

The protracted struggle through which we have passed,
and our labors not yet crowned with victory, seems to me
sometimes like a painful dream, in which one strives to run
and yet stands still, incapable alike of escaping or meeting
the impending danger.

But I would not pain your ears with a rehearsal of the
hopes ofttimes deferred and shadowed with fear; of the
brightest anticipations again and again dimmed with dis-

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 487

appointment. I will leave it to your imagination to picture
to yourselves how you would feel if any one of you had had
a case in court, or a bill before some legislative body, or a
political aspiration, for nearly half a century, with a con-
tinued succession of adverse decisions ; and yet the future
is so full of bright promises for us that we still hope and
labor while we wait.

Woman suffrage means a free use of all the opportunities
for higher education, and that physical training necessary
for abstruse thinking. Schools are already being estab-
lished in many countries for the physical training of girls
by every variety of gymnastics, by fencing, boxing, swim-
ming, military drill, and by all sorts of outdoor amusements,
hunting, shooting, riding on horseback, on bicycles and
tricycles, playing foot-ball, base-ball, and tennis.

All that remains to secure our complete emancipation is
to arouse women themselves from their apathy and indiffer-
ence. Some one has suggested that women are too generous
and unselfish to work for themselves. John Stuart Mill
says that " woman's pet virtue is self-sacrifice." If this be
so, I would suggest that in this reform there is still abun-
dant opportunity for self-sacrifice, as perchance none of the
blessings of our present labors may be enjoyed by our- •
selves. We have lived to see the principle of woman
suffrage conceded in many civilized countries, but the full
fruition of the experiment is still in the future. Our work
is preeminently unselfish ; we still have persecution, ostra-
cism, ridicule, but the blessings may be for other genera-
tions. We have the satisfaction, however, to know that we
have done our duty in a holy cause, and laid the foundation
for the highest civilization the world has ever witnessed,
though we may not live to enjoy its full benefits.

Enough for us to see the day dawning, the coming glory '
on every side, enough for us to know that our daughters
to the third and fourth generation will enjoy the fruits of
our labors, reap the harvests we have sown, and sing the
glad songs of victory in every latitude and longitude, from

488 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

pole to pole, when we have passed to other spheres of
action.

Woman as an Annex — Address by Helen H. Gardener
OF New York.

If it were not often tragic and always humiliating, it
would be exceedingly amusing to observe the results of a
method of thought and a civilization that has proceeded
always upon the idea that man is the race and that woman
is merely an annex to him, and exists because of his desires,
needs, and dictum.

Strangely enough, the bigotry of sex bias and pride
does not carry this theory below the human animal. Ac-
cording to scientists and evolutionists, and indeed even
according to the religious explanations of the source and
cause of things, the male and female of all species of ani-
mals, birds, and insects come into life and tread its path
together as equals. The male tiger does not assume to
teach his mate what her " sphere " is, and the female hippo-
potamus is supposed to have sufficient brain-power of her
own to enable her to live her own life and plan her own
occupations ; to decide upon her own needs, and generally
regulate her own existence without being compelled to call
upon the gentlemen of her family in particular and all of
the gentlemen of her species in general to decide for her
when she is doing the proper thing. The laws of their
species are not made and executed by one sex for the other,
and the same food, sun, covering, education, and general
conduct and opportunities of life which open to the one sex
are equally open to the other. No protective tariff is put
upon masculine prerogative to enable him to control all the
necessaries of life for both sexes, to assure him all the best
opportunities, occupations, education, and results of achieve-
ment which are the common need of their kind. In short,
the female is in no way his subordinate.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 489

In captivity it is the female which has been as a rule most
prized, best cared for and preserved. In the barnyard, field,
and stable alike it is deemed wise to kill most of the males.
They are looked upon as good food, so to speak, but not as
useful citizens. What they add to the world is not thought
so much of — their capacities for future services are less
valued than are those of the other sex. Even the man-
made religious legends bring all these animals into life in
pairs. Neither has precedence of the other ; neither is sub-
ject to the other.

But when it comes to the human animal, ** the final blos-
som of creative thought," as religionists word it, or of uni-
versal energy, as scientists put it, the male for the first time
becomes the whole idea. A helpmeet for him is an after-
thought, and according to man's teaching up to the present
time an after-thought only half-matured and very badly
executed.

In spite of all the practice on other pairs, one of each sex,
it. remained for the Almighty, or Nature, to make the mis-
take, for the first time, of creating a race with one of its
halves a mere " annex " to the other — a subject, a subordi-
nate, without brains to do its own thinking, without judg-
ment to be its own guide.

In the case of all other animals each sex has its own
brain-power, with which it directs its own affairs, makes
its own laws of conduct, and so preserves its own individu-
ality, its personal liberty, its freedom of action and of
development.

I am not ignorant of the scientific facts that in nature
among ants, birds, and beasts, there are tribes and com-
munities where some are slaves, or are subject to others ;
but what I do assert is this, that this is not a sex distinction
or degradation. It is not infrequently the males who are
the subjects in those communities where liberty is not
equal, and where, therefore, the very basic principle of
equality is impossible or unknown.

Nowhere in all nature is the mere fact of sex made a

490 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

reason for fixed inequality of liberty ; for subjugation, for
subordination, and for determined inferiority of oppor-
tunity in education, in acquirement, in position — in a
word, in freedom. Nowhere until we reach man !

Here, for the first time in nature, there enter artificial
social conditions and needs. These artificial demands,
coupled with the great fact of maternity under sex sub-
jugation, linked with financial dependence upon the one
not so burdened, have fixed this subordinate status upon
that part of the race which is the producer of the race.

This fact alone is enough to account for the slow, the
distorted, the diseased, and the criminal progress of hu-
manity. Subordinates can not give lofty character. Servile
temperaments can not blossom into liberty- loving, liberty-
breathing, liberty-giving descendants.

Many of the lower animals destroy their young if they
are bom in captivity. They demand that their offspring
shall be free ; free from man's conditions or captivity, as
it always has been free from the tyranny of sex control in
their own species.

It is the fashion in this country nowadays to say that
women are treated as equals. Some of the most progress-
ive and best of men truly believe what they say in this
regard.

One of our leading daily papers, which insists that this is
true, and even goes so far as to say that American gentlemen
believe in and act upon the theory that their mothers and
daughters are of a superior quality, and are always of
the first consideration to men, recently had an editorial
headlined "UNIVERSAL suffrage the birthright of the
FREE-BORN.*' I read it through, and, would you believe it,
the writer has so large a bump of sex arrogance that he
never once thought of one-half of humanity in the entire
course of an elaborate and eloquent two-column article!
"Universal*' suffrage touched but one sex. There was
but one sex "free-born." There was but one born with
'* rights." The words, "persons," " citizens," "residents of

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 491

the State," and all similar terms were used quite freely, but
not once did it dawn upon the mind of the writer that every
one of those words, every argument for freedom, every plea
for liberty and justice, equality and right applied to the
human race, and not merely to one-half of that race.

Sex bias, sex arrogance, sex pride, sex assumption is so
ingrained that it simply does not occur to the male logician,
scientist, philosopher, and politician that there is a human-
ity ! They see, think of, and argue for and about only a sex
of man, with an annex to him — woman. They call this the
race, but they do not mean the race ; they mean men. They
write and talk of " human beings "; of their needs, their edu-
cation, their capacities, and development ; but they are not
thinking of humanity at all. They are planning for and
executing plans which subordinate the race — the human
entity — to a subdivision, the mark and sign of which is the
low^est and most universal possession of male nature — the
mere procreative instinct and possibility. This has grown
to be the habit of thought until in science, in philosophy,
in religion, in law, in politics — one and all — we must
translate all language into other terms than those used.
For the word " universal " -we must read — male ; for the
" people," the " nation," we must read — men. The " will
of the majority — majority rule "really means the larger
number of masculine citizens. And so with all our com-
mon language. It is mere democratic, verbal gj^mnastics,
clothing the same old monarchical, aristocratic, mental
beliefs with ** the divine right " of man, and making woman
his subject and perquisite.

It does not mean what it says, and it does not say what it
means. Our thoughts are adjusted to false forms, and so
the thoughts do not ring true. They are mere hereditary
forms of speech. All masculine thought and expression up
to the present time have been in the language of sex and
not in the language of race ; and so it has come about that
the music of humanity has been set in one key and played
on one chord.

492 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

It has been well said that an Englishman can not speak
French correctly until he has learned to think in French.
It is far more true that no one can speak or write the
language of human liberty and equality until he has learned
to think in the language, and to feel without stopping to
argue with himself that right is not masculine ouly and
that justice knows no sex.

Were the claim to superior opportunity, status, and posi-
tion based upon capacity, character, or wealth, upon per-
fection of form or grace of bearing, one could understand
if not accept the reasonableness of the position; for it would
then rest upon some sort of recognized superiority; but
while it is based upon sex, a mere accident of form, carry-
ing with it a brute instinct, which is not even glorified by
the capacity and willingness to produce, surely no lower^
less vital, or more degraded basis could possibly be chosen.
Not long ago a heated argument arose here in Chicago
over the teaching of German in the public schools. This
argument was used by one of the leading contestants in one
of the leading journals :

** The whole amount of education that ninety-five per
cent of our public school pupils receive is lamentably small.
It is far less than we could wish it to be. Most of these
children, who are to be the citizens and by their ballots the
nilers of this nation, can often remain but a few years in
the school-room. For the average American citizen who is
not a professional man, or who is not destined for diplo-
matic service abroad, English can afford all the mental and
intellectual pabulum needed."

Now here is an amusing, and also a humiliating, illustra-
tion of the way these matters are always handled, and it is
for that reason only that I have introduced a local question
here. ** Ninety-five per cent of our public school pupils,"
etc., ** by their ballots are to be the rulers of the nation,"
etc., '* future citizens," forsooth! Now it simply did not occur
to the gentleman who wrote that, and to the hundreds who
so write and speak daily, that the most of those ninety-five

HON. LYMAN J. GAGE,

Treasurer World's Congress Auxiliary and ex-President World's Columbian

Exposition.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 493

per cent have no ballot, do not " rule," are not the " future
citizens," but that they belong to the proscribed sex —
have committed the crime of being giris even before they
entered the public schools, and so have permanently out-
lawed themselves from citizenship in this glorious republic
of " equals." But his entire argument, made upon so large
a per cent, really rests upon a much smaller number;
but the girls made good ballast for the argument. They
answered to fill in the " awful example," but they are not
allowed the justice of real citizenship, nor to be the future
" rulers " for and because of whom the whole argument is
made — for whose educational rights and needs alone,
because of their future ballots^ he cares so tenderly. It will
not do to attempt to avoid this issue by the hackneyed
expression, " The hand that rocks the cradle rules the
world." Every one knows that this is not true in the sense
in which it is used. It is true, alas, in a sense never dreamed
of by politician and publicist.

It is true that the degraded status of maternity has ruled
and does rule the world, in that it has been, and is, the most
potent power to keep the race from lofty achievement.
Subject mothers never did, and subject mothers never will,
produce a race of free, well-poised, liberty-loving, justice-
practicing children.

Maternity is an awful power. It blindly strikes back at
injustice with a force that is a fearful menace to mankind.
And the race which is bom of mothers who are harassed,
bullied, subordinated, and made the victims of blind passion
or power, or of mothers who are simply too petty and self-
debased to feel their subject status, can not fail to continue
to give us the horrible spectacles we have always had of war,
of crime, of vice, of trickery, of double-dealing, of pretense,
of lying, of arrogance, of subserviency, of incompetence, of
brutality, and, alas, of insanity, idiocy, and disease, added to
a fearful and unnecessary mortality. To a student of
anthropology and heredity it requires no great brain-power
to trace results to causes.

494 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

We need only remember that the mental as well as the
physical conditions, capacities, and potentialities are inher-
ited to understand how the dead level of hopeless medioc-
rity must be preserved as the rule of the race, so long as
the potentialities of that race must be filtered always
through and take its impetus from a mere annex to man's
power, ambition, desires, and opinions.

Let me respond right here to those who will, who always
do, insist that woman is not so held to-day, at least in Eng-
land and America ; that her present status is a dignified, an
equal, or even superior one.

I will illustrate. In a recent speech by the Hon. William
Ewart Gladstone he pleaded most eloquently and earnestly
for the right of Irishmen to rule and govern themselves.
Among many other things he said :

" The principal weapons of the opposition are bold asser-
tion, persistent exaggeration, constant misconstruction, and
copious, arbitrary, and baseless prophecies. True, there are
conflicting financial arrangements to be dealt with, but
among the difficulties nothing exists which ought to abash
or terrify men desirous to accomplish a great object. For
the first time in ninety years the bill will secure the suprem-
acy of Parliament as founded upon right as well as backed
by power."

Had these remarks been made with an eye single to the
" woman question," they could not have been more exactly
descriptive of the facts in the case ; but with Irishmen only
on his mind he continued thus :

**The persistent distrust of the Irish people despite all
they can do comes simply to this, that they are to be pressed
below the level of civilized mankind. When the boon of
self-government is given to the British colonies is Ireland
alone to be excepted from its blessings ? To deny Ireland
home rule is to say that she lacks the ordinary faculties of
humanity."

He said " Irish people," but he meant Irish men only.
But see to what his argument leads ! He says it is " press-

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 496

ing them below the level of civilized mankind " to deny
them the right to stand erect, to use their own brains and
wills in their own government ; and a great party in his
own country, and a great party in this country, echo with
mad enthusiasm his opinions. They call it mankind ; they
mean one-half of mankind only, for not even Mr. Gladstone
is able to rise high enough above his sex bias to see that
the denial of all self-government, all representation in the
making of the laws she is to obey, " presses woman below
the level of civilized mankind."

Words cease to have par value, even with^the stickler for
verbal accuracy, the instant their own arguments are applied
to the other sex. Eloquently men can and do portray the
wrongs, the outrages, the abuses which always have arisen,
which always must arise, from class legislation — from that
condition which makes it impossible for one class or condi-
tion of citizens of a country to make their needs, desires,
preferences, and opinions felt in the organic and statute
law of their country on an equal and level footing with their
fellows. Men have needed no great ability to enable them
to prove that tyranny unspeakable always did and always
will follow unlimited power over others — so long as their
arguments applied between man and man ; but the instant
the identical arguments are used to apply between man and
woman, that instant their whole attitude changes. That
instant words lose all par value. That instant all men,
including those who have just waxed eloquent over the
injustice and the real danger of permitting inequality
before the law, become aristocrats. Claiming to be the
logical sex, man throws logic to the winds ! Claiming to
have fought and bled to enthrone "liberty," he forgets its
very name! Asserting that in his hand alone can the
scales of justice be held level, he makes of justice, of
liberty, of equality, a mockery and a pretense. He has so far
read all of those words in the masculine form only. He
has not yet learned to think them in a universal language.
He stultifies his every utterance and makes of his mind a

496 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

jailer, and of his laws slave-drivers for all who can not by
physical force wrench from him the right to their own
liberty and to the human status of equality of opportunity.
Men have everywhere grown to believe that they rule
women by divine right. Woman is a mere annex to and
for man's glory. She exists for him to rule, to think for, to
adore, to tolerate, or fo abuse as he sees fit, according to his
type of nature. Her appeal must not be to an equal stand-
ard of justice which she has helped to frame, administer,
and live by, but it must be to his generosity, his tenderness,
his toleration, or his chivalry — in short, to his absolute
power over her. " No people can be free without an equal
legal footing for all of its citizens !" exclaims the states-
man ; and drums beat, and trumpets blare, and men march
and countermarch in enthusiastic response to the senti-
ment. ** We must have a government of the people, by the
people, and for the people " is cheered to the echo wherever
heard, and nobody realizes that what is meant always is a
government by men, for men, and of men, with woman as
an annex. Only three weeks ago all of our papers had
leaders, editorials, and cablegrams to announce that ** Uni-
versal suffrage has been granted in Belgium.'* They all
grew enthusiastic over it. One of our leading New York
editors said (and I use his editorial simply because it is a
very good example of what almost all of our important
journals said), " The triumph of the Belgium democracy is
an event of the first significance. The masses had long
appealed in vain for a removal of the property qualification
which restricted the right of suffrage to one hundred and
forty thousand persons out of a population of over six mill-
ions, but the Chambers, dominated by the wealthy classes,
resolutely refused to comply with the demand until a dan-
gerous revolution was inaugurated. Even now the change
in the constitution granting universal suffrage is coupled
with the right of plural voting by the property owners ; but
it is quite certain this obnoxious feature will be soon aban-
doned by the Chambers, and universal suffrage will prevail,

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 497

as in the adjoining nations of France and Germany. When
these newly enfranchised electors choose the next Legisla-
ture, important changes may be expected in the laws appli-
cable to the emplojrment of labor, which have hitherto been
framed solely in the interest of the mine-owners and the
manufacturers.

" Fortunately for the king, he seems to be in sympathy
with this effort of the masses to acquire a fair representation
in the government. In the recent riots the hostility of the
people was directed against the Assembly rather than
against the crown.

" It is very evident that the democratic spirit is gaining
ground throughout Europe. Its influence is manifest in
the home rule movement in England, in the hostility to
the army bill in Germany, and in the rapid changes in the
ministries of France. It steadily advances in every direc-
tion, and never loses ground once acquired. It progp-esses
peacefully if it can, but forcibly if it must. Its triumph in
Belgium is one of the signs of the times in the Old World."

** The people " are all male in Belgium, in France, Ger-
many, and America, or else all of these statements are mere
figures of speech — are wholly untrue — for the women of
Belgium, of France, of Germany, and, alas, of democratic
America, were not even thought of when the words
" people," " citizen," " masses," " laborers," etc., were used.

They are counted in the estimates of the population as all
of these. They are used to fill vacancies, to swell estimates,
to round out statistics ; but in the result of these arguments
and statistics, in the victories won for liberty to the indi\ad-
ual, woman has no part. She is the one outlaw in human
progress. In a recent magazine this passage occurs :

"Austria. — On April 2d, Dr. Victor Adler, a Socialist
leader, spoke to about four thousand working-men in favor
of universal suffrage. He said that two-thirds of the adult
men had not the suffrage. Only half-civilized countries
like Russia and Spain now placed their citizens in such
inequality before the law. The working-man of Austria

498 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

had never before this winter suffered such hardships, and
now in Vienna twenty-six thousand workmen were without
shelter."

Yet there is no report that Doctor Adler, or the editor
of the magazine, who waxed eloquent over it, saw any
special ** hardship " or ** inequality " in a degraded status for
all women. " Universal suffrage " indeed ! And has Aus-
tria no women citizens? Were the working-women who
have not the ballot better sheltered than the men ? Or do
they need no shelter ? Another editor says :

" Don't talk about a free ballot while the bread of the
masses is in the giving of the classes." Yet had a venture-
some girl type-setter made it read, " Don*t talk about a free
ballot, a democracy, or freedom while the bread of women
is in the giving of men," the editor would have said, ** She
is insane — and besides that, she is talking unwomanly
nonsense."

It is the same in science, in literature, in religion. All
estimates are made on and for the " human race," " the peo-
ple of a country," etc. The " will of the people " is spoken
of; we are told all about the size, capacity, convolutions,
etc., of the brain of the different peoples ; we hear learned
discussions about it all, and when you sift them, woman —
one-half of the race talked about — is used always simply
and only as ballast, as filling, to make a point in man's
favor. She does not figure in the benefits. He is the race
— she is his annex.

Not long ago an amusing illustration of this came to
my knowledge. In life insurance there is more money
invested than in any other financial enterprise. This is the
way insurance experts look at the woman question. The
estimates of longevity, desirability of risk, etc., are based
upon male standards. This is not in itself unnatural nor
unreasonable, since men have been the chief insurers ; but
few companies, indeed, being willing to insure women at
all. But not long ago a woman applied for a policy on her
life in a first-class company. She had three little children

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 499

for whom she wished to provide in case of her death. She
believed that she could properly support them so long as
she lived. To her surprise she was told that the rate at
which she must pay was five dollars on each one thousand
dollars more than her brother had to pay at the same age.
She asked the actuary — a verj'' profound man — why this
was so. He told her that women had been found to be not
so good risks as men, since they were subject to more dan-
gers of death than were men, and to make the companies
safe it had been found necessary to charge women a higher
rate. She had heard much her life long of the dangers to
men s lives, of the shielded, sheltered state of feminine
humanity, and she had never dreamed that it was, from a
mortuary point of view, ** extra hazardous " to be a woman.
She assumed, however, that it must be so, and paid her
"extra hazardous" premium — just as if she belonged to
the army, or was a blaster, or miner, or "contemplated
going up in a balloon.** A short time afterward her mother,
an elderly lady, had some money to invest. She did not
wish to care for it herself, as she had never had the least
business experience. She applied to the same actuary to
know how much of an annual income, or annuity, she could
buy for the sum she had. He figured on it for awhile, and
told her. It was a good deal less than a man could get for
the same amount. She had the temerity to ask why.
" Well,** said the actuary, gazing benignly over his glasses
at her in a congratulatory fashion, " you see, women live
longer than men do, and — *'

" But you told my daughter that they did not live so long ;
and so she pays at a higher rate on insurance to make you
safe, lest she should die too young. Now you charge me
more for an annuity on the theory that a woman lives
longer than a man.**

" Well,** said he, readjusting his glasses and going care-
fully over the mortuary tables again, " that does seem to
be the fact. If a woman assures her life she beats the
company by dying sooner than a man, and if she takes an

500 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

annuity she beats us by living longer than he would. Don't
know how it happens, but we charge extra to cover the
facts as we find 'em.'*

Such is male logic upon female perversity even in death.
Yet men say that they understand us and our needs so much
better than we do ourselves, that they abandon all of their
reasoning, logic, enthusiasm, and belief, on the great fun-
damental principles of justice, equality, liberty, and law
the moment their own arguments are applied to women
instead of to " labor," the ** Irish question," or to any phase
of class legislation as applied between man and man.

The fact is simply and only this : The arrogance of sex-
power and perversion is now so thoroughly ingrained that
man really believes himself to be, by divine right, the
human race, and that woman is his perquisite. He has
no universal language. He thinks in the language of sex.
But more than this, and worse than this, he insists upon no
one being allowed to think in the language of humanity,
and to translate that thought into action.

The Value of the Eastern Star as a Factor in Giv-
ing Women a Better Understanding of Business
Affairs, and Especially Those Relating to Legis-
lative Matters — Address by Mary A. Flint of
California.

The primary object of the Order of the Eastern Star, as
expounded by its founder, Robert Morris, was " to associate in
one common bond the worthy wives, widows, daughters, and
sisters of Freemasons so as to make their adoptive privileges
available for all the purposes contemplated in Masonry ; to
secure to them the advantages of their claim in a moral,
social, and charitable point of view, and from them learn the
performance of corresponding duties."

It can hardly be possible that those who laid the corner-
stone and began the erection of this superstructure that has

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 601

attained such fair and lofty proportions could have had any
adequate conception of the work they inaugurated.

It is not only fulfilling its mission from a moral, social,
and charitable point of view, — and much might be said, and
probably will be well said, to show its growth and influence
in all directions, — but as an educator of women the order is
entitled to ** high rank," Especially to women has it been
a revelation of power and ability, developing and bringing
into use talents hitherto unsuspected, by whose exercise in
its ceremonial observances and business transactions confi-
dence has been gained that has made it possible for many
women to fill positions of trust and to obtain employment.

This brings us to the special topic of this paper, the
value of the Eastern Star as a factor in giving women a
better understanding of business affairs, and especially
those relating to legislative matters. To a thoughtful mind
the first steps toward admission to the order are fraught
with interest, which is increased by each succeeding stage
of the initiating ceremonies.

. Lessons of fidelity, constancy, loyalty, purity, uprightness
of character, hope and charity are taught by a symbolism
of exceeding beauty and fitness, while the spirit of the
fraternity shines like a silver thread through all the routine
work.

To give all these lessons their full meaning requires
careful study, exactness, and promptitude, combined with
dignity of demeanor on the part of the officers to whom they
are assigned, that the impression made upon the candidate
may be of permanent value ; hence the regular routine of
these duties becomes of value as an educational factor, giv-
ing by frequent repetition confidence in one's ability to
speak acceptably, and with proper appreciation of the
beauties contained in the different lectures, as well as
being a means of strengthening the memory.

With membership gained, and fraternal relations estab-
lished, a knowledge of business details becomes necessary,
which is acquired only by observation and experience, as

602 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

from time to time different subjects are presented for
immediate consideration or referred to committees, to be
examined, reported upon, and discussed before final action
is taken.

To do all these things correctly and intelligently involves
careful attention to details ; the faculty of comparing and
condensing facts so as to present them in concise and suit-
able language ; and a knowledge of business forms and
established rules and regulations. It is important also to
know how to listen intelligently to propositions presented
for discussion, to know whether they are properly stated
by the presiding officer, and what effect their approval or
rejection will have on existing conditions, to discuss them
with fairness and impartiality, putting aside personal pref-
erences, and exercising a charitable consideration for the
prejudices and preferences of others ; conceding matters of
small importance, but never losing sight of the principle
involved, and allowing no deviation from the straight and
narrow path of justice and right through any sophistries,
however plausible or ingeniously presented ; to keep con-
stantly in view the greatest good of all concerned, and
to accept the will of the majority with cheerfulness even
though the result be contrary to preconceived ideas.

Familiarity with all the details of business will prove of
inestimable value, and a careful study of them, with fre-
quent practice, will be full of interest and afford an excel-
lent opportunity for women to qualify themselves for
legislative positions by teaching them not only how to
make laws, but to obey them strictly.

The various official positions of the order necessitate
special preparation to render them available for the highest
development of one's capacities, as step by step they lead
to higher planes of usefulness.

To safely guard the portals, that no one enter unless
entitled to do so, and to permit no interruption to cere-
monial observances, requires watchfulness, discretion, tact,
readiness of resource in preventing anything that might

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 508

lead to unpleasant complications, and also implicit obedi-
ence to constituted authority; important qualities in any
sphere of action.

So much depends upon the secretary of any organization,
that to perform correctly the duties of that position is no
easy task, and careful attention needs to be given to its
requirements by those who would fill it intelligently and
creditably.

It is the duty of a secretary to make a proper record of
the proceedings of each meeting, to conduct the corre-
spondence, to receive all the moneys and give credit for
them.

Quickness of observation and readiness of understand-
ing, clearness of perception as to what is proper to be
recorded, precision of language and accuracy of statement,
facility of expression, suavity of manner, good penman-
ship, neatness and orderliness, unquestioned integrity, obe-
dience to the requests of the presiding officer, all these
and more which might be enumerated are necessary quali-
fications of a secretary who seeks to obtain the highest
standard of excellence.

"The proper preservation of our funds demands honesty
and carefulness on the part of our treasurer." What is
true of one organization applies with equal force to all.

The many instances constantly occurring of misappro-
priation of funds, dishonesty in every form, and criminal
carelessness on the part of those to whom have been
intrusted moneys belonging to societies and private indi-
viduals, come to emphasize with ever-increasing distrust-
fulness the necessity of the strictest fidelity and the most
undeviating integrity in the discharge of every important
trust ; and there is no better school in which to learn this
lesson than in our order, founded upon the sublime princi-
ples of truth and fidelity to all moral obligations.

Without further reference to those in official stations
who have to do with the initiatory ceremonies, I will
refer briefly to the duties of a presiding officer and the

604 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

requisites for one who is ambitious to become proficient in
the work.

A dignified, courteous demeanor, close attention to
details, quickness of apprehension in grasping the true
meaning of questions brought forward for consideration
and the strictest impartiality in deciding them ; a thorough
knowledge of parliamentary rules and the laws governing
the organization, and firmness in exacting obedience to
them, and maintaining discipline while carefully refrain-
ing from an infringement of others' rights ; a subordination
of personal consideration to the general welfare ; all these
are component parts of a harmonious whole, demanding
serious thought and study on the part of those who aspire
to the honor of presiding officer over any assembly.

In the Order of the Eastern Star the duty of presiding
devolves upon the sisters. The matron is brought into
close relations with the associate head of the chapter,
who, as a Master Mason, should be well informed on all
points.

Though not the chief officer, he is required to be con-
versant with the laws of the order ; and as the consti-
tutional adviser of the worthy matron shares with her the
cares and responsibilities of the position.

By temperament and from lack of previous training in
public matters women are probably more sensitive to criti-
cism and censure than men, whose experience in the man-
agement of public affairs has been so much greater, but
honest criticism assists rather than hinders the develop-
ment of qualities necessarj'' for success, and censure, if
undeserved, can be ignored; but a wise discrimination
is often needed to determine how much of either is best
adapted to serve the purpose of improvement. Here also
she may derive great benefit from the safe counsel and
thoughtful consideration of her associate officer, so that
with mutual helpfulness and harmony of interest, each con-
scientiously striving for the best results, they may success-
fully administer the trust committed to their charge.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 506

In conclusion, a well-conducted chapter of the Eastern Star
is a school wherein an earnest woman of ordinary ability
may acquire a sufficient knowledge of business to enable her
not only to fill positions in which she may earn a livelihood
merely, but also to manage public trusts connected with
the government of the State, in which may be greater
responsibilities and increased remuneration.

If in addition to the training here received there is a
broad underlying foundation of previous mental discipline,
combined with capacity of a high order, to what may she
not aspire ?

If in the providence of Gk)d, by future legal enactment,
women shall stand shoulder to shoulder with men in mat-
ters political, as they do now socially and intellectually, the
influence of this factor in education and experience will
be entitled to recognition.

The Relation of Woman to Our Present Political
Problems — Address by Abbie A. C. Peaslie of
Maine, Representative of the Loyal Women of
American Liberty.

Handicapped as is woman — twenty-five States and Terri-
tories only giving her authority at the polls — in what way
can she be related to the present political problems now
agitating our country ?

This subject should be treated from both a practical and
a theoretical standpoint.

In Wyoming, where women have the supreme privilege
of an unrestricted ballot, in Kansas, where they have the
municipal ballot, and in other States and Territories where
suffrage is granted in one form or another, one may reason
from practice, while in States not so favored one must
theorize.

In the rising of this new Star that has settled so grace-
fully on our national banner we have much of hope in

606 ' CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the lessons to be learned from her struggles and victorious
emancipation from political bondage. By this progress
much is made possible toward the development of the ideal
government ; verifying the truth " that woman has appeared
in American politics, and the home has become the unit of
American politics, and the power of the home is going to
be more and more potential in American affairs.**

However indifferent woman may have been in the past,
as she considers the issues that now confront us as a nation,
if the instinct of motherhood still reigns supreme in her
bosom, she can remain indifferent no longer.

Optimistic as she may be for America's future, she can
but note in the municipal elections of her own city the par-
tisan motives that prompt the placing upon the electoral
ticket men whom, morally, she can not indorse ; and yet her
son, in the proud flush of young manhood, is called to cast
his yote for them, thus stultifying his sense of justice at the
very beginning of his political career.

Too long have politics been considered a demoralizing
agency, when, next to the law of the love of God, should be
love of country and the laws that govern it.

It may be asked, What can woman do to guard the temple
of American liberty against the political animosities that
bedim the public mind, or against the menace of open
assault or secret machination ?

I would cite, in answer, the noble example of the women
of Boston, who, in the municipal election of December,
1888, so gloriously defended the public schools from secta-
rian despotism.

Our countrymen, in the eager pursuit for the gold that
perisheth, have become lax in giving attention to the ques-
tions that pertain to the moral welfare of our loved country
and to the perpetuation of the principles of its founders.
In so doing they have ignored a constituency which they
declare needs no other representation than that which the
identity of interests between the sexes imparts, yet whose
claims in the interests of the home are willfully set aside.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 607

Though preferring the quiet of the domestic fireside,
there is ingrained in woman's nature that love of liberty
and equity which characterized the men who, with their
little families, braved the dangers of an unknown sea;
from whom she has inherited the courage that makes her
bold to plead her cause in legislative halls, to the end that
her rights may be respected.

" No longer are women doubtful as to the advantages to
be gained by the franchise," though this evolution has
cost the sacrifice and ridicule of the noble pioneers whom
this World s Congress of Representative Women to-day so
proudly honors.

The great industrial world, in which so large a proportion
of the wage-earners are women, is beginning to realize what
the power of their ballot would be in economic reforms.

Woman's ballot is needed to emphasize the demand of
Congress for the passage of a bill making more stringent
immigration laws, and the adoption of measures for their
enforcement.

We of New England, through the open door of our Cana-
dian border, are threatened by the invasion of a people
hostile to our free institutions and clannish in their customs.
Our population in all large cities is becoming more and
more heterogeneous. Yet we have cause to fear "only
those who will not affiliate with us after they get here."

As loyal women, we believe in popular education ; we
believe that the character of our country is to be determined
by the enlightenment of the masses. Hence we consider
compulsory education a necessity, agreeing with Lyman
Beecher when he says: "We must educate! we must
educate ! or we must perish by our own prosperity."

The educational test amendment, enacted in the fall of
1892, has reaped good results the past winter, as the evening
schools have had exceptionally large numbers in attend-
ance ; and through the adoption of this amendment Maine
hopes to offset in part the denationalizing influence of the
" Cahensly " plan in her French- parochial schools.

508 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Would that I might, with the poetic genius of the
lamented author of " Snow Bound," paint upon the tablets
of your memory " the little red school-house " of your youth-
ful days, and thereby touch a chord of sympathy that would
respond to the efforts of this organization to preserve this
landmark of Christian civilization, this bulwark of American
liberty — the public school, and the retention of the Bible
in the same ; and serve to stimulate to greater activity and
responsibility those who have the school suffrage, and to
incite the women of those States not thus favored to work
more earnestly for the measure.

With eloquent and persuasive flattery to the American
sense of justice, we are asked for the appropriation of public
moneys and the division of the school fund for sectarian
purposes. To submit would be treason, in the light of what
history has revealed regarding the results of a sectarian
school system.

Father McGlynn gives utterance to the sentiment of all
loyal citizens when he says : ** The American people have
very justly looked upon the public school as the palladium
of their liberties and one of the most necessary safeguards
for the preservation of the republic." And in his scathing
criticism on ecclesiasticarinterference in the free institu-
tions of our country, he touches a responsive chord in the
heart of all who have enjoyed the benefits of the public
school.

Through an influence hostile to our. schools, more than
four hundred thousand pupils who are to become American
citizens have been withdrawn from them ; and the question
is under discussion as to how the remaining six hundred
thousand shall receive instruction that accords with the
teaching of a particular sect.

The words of one of your Western women ring in my
ears, "What you would put into your nation's life, you
must put into your schools."

I would so impress this truth upon the minds of the
mothers of this land as to lead them not only to realize

I

HON. ELBRIDGE G. KEITH,
Director World's Columbian Exposition; Chairman of the Finance Committee.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 509

their responsibility, but to insist, "as the right of the
State is identical with her right to preserve herself," that
when sects establish methods detrimental to our republican
form of government, stringent laws be passed forbid-
ding the same, and requiring that all schools in which our
children are instructed shall be under the supervision of
the State authorities. For the accomplishment of this
work, I would urge the passage of the amendment sug-
gested by the National League for the Protection of Ameri-
can Institutions.

With great solicitude should we guard the Bible from the
ruthless hands that would exclude it from the school-room.
In the defense of those who desire the retention of the
Bible in the school as a guide to the higher moral develop-
ment of our youth, I can do no better than to quote words
spoken in protest against its expulsion by a distinguished
divine, " The Bible is the only unsectarian book and system.
The Bible is religious instruction, all-pervading, pure, per-
fect, but not distinctive or sectarian, as opposed to this or
that sect; just as the atmosphere is omnipresent, translu-
cent, vital, but neither as oxygen nor as nitrogen.

" The BiWle is used as God's word, our guide to everlast-
ing life, and not as a book of Protestantism. There is no
such a thing as a Protestant version ; there never has been.
There is an English version for all who read English. The
work was beg^n by WickliflFe in the Romish church, before
the art of printing. . It was renewed and continued by
Tyndale and others, in the same Romish church, before the
public protestation against the errors of that church. It
was printed, published, and circulated by the authority of a
Romish king, King Henry VIIL, with a license procured
by Cranmer and the vicar-general Cromwell of the Romish
church. This very translation, which, in the main, was
that of Tyndale, was substantially taken as the basis of
the translation issued under King James: and it was
so free from anything sectarian, as between Romanism
and other sects, that the learned Dr. Alexander Geddes, an

34

510 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ecclesiastic of the Romish church himself, called it * of all
versions the most excellent, for accuracy, fidelity, and the
strictest attention to the letter of the text/ "

Loyalty to the star-spangled banner is one of our most
cherished tenets; and we trust the custom may become
universal of floating it over every school-house in the land,
and that our children may be taught to salute it with
becoming reverence.

WoMEN*s National Indian Association — Address by
Mrs. William E. Burke of New York, Read by Mrs.
Herrick Johnson of Illinois.

•* Every man who is bom within the territory of the
United States is amenable to the authority of the United
States, by law of nature, that is, by divine decree ; and the
United States Government must, whether it will or no,
assume the responsibility of exercising legitimate and
just government over him, and answer for its trust to the
God of nations, the God of the poor and the unprotected."
These words of a well-known divine might, without demur,
be accepted as an axiom in social ethics, and yet there was
a time, not many years ago, when the original inhabitant
of our country, the native Indian, had within our borders
no legal or political rights. Neither citizen nor foreigner,
he occupied a position anomalous and strange ; although
the lands he held were recognized as his own in the treaties
made with him by the Government, he was subject to
enforced removals from them. The agent under whom he
was placed was clothed with power as despotic as that of
any potentate. He could at his pleasure suspend the Indian
chief holding the tribal authority, and arrest or drive
away any visitor to the reservation. Under such circum-
stances the Indian was robbed continually. He had no
power to make contracts, nor could he sell the product of
his labor to any one but the trader appointed by Govern-

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 511

ment. Often placed upon a tract of barren, unproductive
land, he was required to cultivate it under conditions which
would paralyze the efforts of an expert farmer. He was
deprived of arms and ammunition with which he could live
by huAting, and he could not leave the reservation without
permission. He had no power to protect himself or his
family from outrage. Indeed, to kill an Indian was not a
crime in law ; and regarding the long list of minor wrongs
he was wholly at the mercy of his white neighbor. It
would be difficult to imagine a condition more oppressed
and helpless than was that of the Indian at that time.

It was the discovery of facts like these which led to the
efforts resulting in the organized work of the Women's
National Indian Association. The sole object of the origi-
nators • of this work was to gain more just legislation
regarding Indians. For five years no other labor on Indian
behalf was done by them, or those whose help they obtained.

The 'first method adopted was that of popular appeal.
This was made in undoubting confidence that the Christian
men of the nation needed but to be informed of these great
wrongs to demand that they should be righted. A petition
was formulated entreating the Government to observe its
covenants with the Indians, to prevent encroachments upon
their territory, and to guard all the rights guaranteed to
them by treaty. This petition was signed by thousands of
citizens in fifteen States, and was presented to Congress in
February, 1880. The memorial of the next year went fur-
ther, and added to its expressions regarding treaty-keeping
the prayer that all obligations might be observed " until
changed by the mutual and free consent of both parties."
This petition, presented in Januarj'', 1881, bore the signa-
tures of over fifty thousand citizens, more than double the
number appended to the first memorial. With it, as with the
first, leaflets portraying the Indian situation were widely
circulated.

Careful study of the Indian question by the officer of
the association whose researches formed the plans and

612 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

shaped the policy of the society had revealed the fact that
the treaties themselves were often frauds, and that of all
the evils afflicting the Indian, the greatest was the reserva-
tion system. Here he was indeed "reserved," and was
being reserved from personal liberty, from instruction in
practical work, from education, from the opportunity for
self-support, and therefore from self-respect ; in every way
he was " reserved '* from everything that would best develop
his mental and physical powers, and as a rule he was practi-
cally "reserved" from the possibility of Christian faith.
Knowledge of what such a system must entail upon the
unfortunate victims of it naturally led to a revolt against
it. and the following year the petition to Congress bore
proof of the radical change of views on the part of the
leaders of this movement. The memorial circulated during
the closing months of 1881, in addition to its prayer for
treaty-keeping " until both parties to the covenant agreed
to its abrogation," distinctly asked for universal Indian
education, for land in severalty, and for the " recognition
of Indian personality and rights under the law." Almost
wholly by the work of women, this petition was brought to
Congress from all the States in the Union, and it repre-
sented more than a hundred thousand citizens. Accompany-
ing it was a memorial letter stating that.it had the votes of
hundreds of churches and of various public meetings, while
the roll contained the names of members of legislative
bodies, of governors, judges, and lawyers ; names of bishops
and other clergy, including the entire ministry of three
denominations in Philadelphia ; of the professors and stu-
dents of theological seminaries, colleges, and universities ;
of members of missionary and philanthropical societies,
national in extent, with many names from literary, art, and
social clubs. Besides all these, the paper was signed by
many business and manufacturing firms controlling capital
to the amount of many millions of dollars, and employing
thousands of operatives. Such signatures show the rapid
growth of sentiment in behalf of justice for our native

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 513

races, and prove that the classes who lead public opinion
and shape intellectual and religious thought were demand-
ing a just and speedy settlement of the Indian question.

This great petition, " as large as a sheep," as was face-
tiously remarked by a Senator when it appeared in the
United States Senate Chamber, in January, 1882, received
respectful attention, but, as was to be expected, it stirred to
nnrighteous wrath the minds of those who were willing
that the Indians should remain apart, " reserved," as con-
venient game for politicians and moral marauders to prey
upon.

The work of the association had spread over sixteen States
and was still rapidly extending ; now it counts its officers,
branches, or members in forty States of the Union.

Still another memorial was circulated in the closing
months of 1882, which was even more warmly greeted, and
adopted. The public press had very generally awakened
to the importance of the subject, and the Indian question
had become one of the prominent topics of the day.
Schemes and plans involving the future of the Indian were
occupying the minds of the law-makers at Washington.
From the beginning, the devoted women who were striving
for a reform in Indian legislation had received the most
cordial sympathy and support from the Hon. H. L. Dawes,
chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, who
himself presented their successive petitions to the Senate,
and always with earnest words of commendation. This
noble man publicly declared that the new Indian policy
which decreed the enfranchisement of the race, giving them
universal education, lands in severalty, law, and citizenship,
" was bom of and nursed by the women of this association."

After the petition for lands in severalty had twice been
presented to Congfress by the Women's National Indian
Association, a plan of work along the same lines and involv-
ing the same methods was adopted by the Indian Rights
Association, then just organized. The women who for four
years had toiled alone, without the aid of any other organ-

514 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ization devoted to the legal help of Indians, hailed with joy
the advent of this new society. It proved an able ally in
the great reform, and the combined work of these two
organizations, with the help of missionary societies and
individual friends of the Indian, successfully carried on the
movement to its final victory in March, 1887, when, by the
passage of the Dawes severalty bill, our native Indian tribes
were granted the status of citizens of this republic.

But the legislative work of the Women*s National Indian
Association did not end with the passage of the Dawes bill,
nor has it been lessened by the adoption since that date of
missionary, home building, and eight other lines of work.
This growing society has continued its appeals to the Chris-
tian church and ministry, and to the public press, and, with
increasing effect, to Congress. Prayers for the many things
which justice still demands for Indians have constantly been
addressed personally to our law-makers and executive offi-
cers ; but the form of the work has changed. Pleas, per-
sonal and direct, have proved to be more effective than the
great rolls of formal petitions previously sent to Govern-
ment. The laws and policy of a nation will not rise above
the level of public sentiment, and only by educating the
popular conscience can any lasting reform be accomplished.
The wider appeal to the people through the public press has
been most efficacious, for, after all, that is the final and sure
resort. Many tribal wrongs have been righted, many acts
of governmental justice have been done, since 1 887, and in
all the women of this association have been an influential,
if not always a visible, factor. Many proofs could be
adduced that their prayers, though not always audible to the
public, have reached the ears of those who control the affairs
of the nation, and that their high purpose and thought have
helped to mold the laws. As the years go on, the deep con-
secrated patriotism of womanhood more and more asserts
itself. Good women everywhere are waking to a moral con-
sciousness that we have yet within our borders aboriginal
tribes still in their native savagery, and that this results not

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 515

SO much from difference of nature as from lack of oppor-
tunity for civilization ; still helpless and ignorant, not from
physical, mental, or moral incapability, but from the en-
forced lack of instruction ; still nomads and marauders, not
because there are no aspiring and noble natures among
them, but because no people can develop a settled and
upright mode of life without a solid basis of law on which
to build.

All thoughtful women, and notably the active members of
this association, realize that just legislation for the Indian,
abolishing the paradox of remaining legal wrongs, legisla-
tion which shall practically place him upon an equal footing
with men of every race upon our soil, is the immediate and
paramount work to be done for the Indian within these.
United States ; and these workers clearly appreciate the fact
that the most difficult and the most important legislative
work of the Women's National Indi'an Association is yet
before them.

The Women's Liberal Federation of Scotland — Ad-
dress BY THE Countess of Aberdeen of Scotland.

It was not until the beginning of the year 1889 that
liberal Scotchwomen first combined for political work. That
they were behind their English sisters may be accounted
for by the better system of laws prevailing in Scotland,
especially those dealing with women and children ; or it
may be that, liberalism being stronger in Scotland, there
was less antagonism of party, and less need for women's
help ; perhaps, also, Scotchwomen had later realized their
duties and responsibilities as independent members of the
community, or with their national reticence were shyer of
new movements involving public work. Naturally Glasgow
and Edinburgh were the first centers of political activity.*

♦ The women of both cities were represented by the Countess of Aber-
deen, the most representative Scotch woman.— [The Editor.]

616 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

woman. From these centers other associations sprang,
until it became necessary, in order to preserve some kind
of unity, to combine these into one federation.

In May, 1890, the Glasgow and West of Scotland societies
first took action toward this, as is shown by the following
extract from the minutes :

"The question of affiliation between the Woman's Lib-
eral Association for Glasgow and the West of Scotland and
the Woman's Liberal Federation of England was consid-
ered, and after discussion it was agreed : that federation of
the Scottish Women's Liberal Associations is immediately
desirable ; that the nationality of our association should be
maintained in consideration of the distinctive position of
Scotland relative to the leading political questions of the
day. The committee recommends to the executive that
arrangements be made as soon as possible for forming a
Scottish Women's Liberal Federation ; that the Edinburgh
General Council be communicated with on the subject ; that
a conference be held in the autumn of all branch associations
of the Women's Liberal Association for Glasgow and West
of Scotland ; and that a circular be sent to all these associa-
tions requesting them to consider certain subjects to be
brought forward at the conference, of which the relation
between the Scottish association and the English Women's
Liberal Federation be one."

The conference was held on October 20, 1890, when the
principle of home rule was accepted, and a Scotch federa-
tion agreed to, a committee being formed to draw up the
constitution and rules.

The following is a copy of the printed objects :

1 . To promote and extend the knowledge of sound liberal principles.

2. To promote the formation of women's liberal associations in Scot-
land, and to afford to them a center from which information and assistance
on political matters can at any time be obtained.

3. To promote intercourse and united action between the women's
liberal associations of Scotland, without compromising their independ-
ence, or in any way interfering with their constitution, rules, or local
authority.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 517

4. To secure just and equal legislation and representation for women,
and the removal of all legal disabilities, especially with reference to the
parliamentary franchise, and to protect the interests of children.

5. To communicate information and arouse interest among women on
political, social, and moral questions, both of g:ep«?rf^l a"i1 1' m rtl i 1 1 1 1'l r ^1 , and
to advance these objects by meetings,'1€etures, and individual effort.

The first meeting of the Council of the Federation was
held on April 6, 1891, in Edinburgh, when Lady Aberdeen,
as president, delivered an address, briefly stating the aims
and objects of the federation.

At the same time the work of the associations and their
relations to the federation were explained by Mrs. Gilbert
Beith, who said that the object and design of the Scottish
Women s Liberal Federation is to organize the women of
Scotland as a social and political force.

Woman has her place alongside of man, not only within
the hallowed circle of the family, but also on the larger
platform of national and universal affairs. Her sphere is
not antagonistic, but auxiliary ; and she has responsibilities
peculiar to herself, concurrent with his. Her influence,
when properly exercised, in the larger field should yield
results similar to those in the smaller. As she strengthens
and gives completeness to the other sex in the home
life, so likewise her quicker perceptions and higher moral
instincts should modify asperities and contribute sympa-
thy and comprehensiveness in framing and administering
laws for the millions of families which make up the nation.
But the women of our country have hitherto failed to rec-
ognize their full responsibility, and it is not too much to
say that their ignorance and lack of interest in the great
questions of the day, which so closely affect the social
well-being of the people, are simply deplorable. These
questions can only be handled practically by political action,
and if women are to become real social reformers, and
undertake to do earnestly with the betterment of the people,
they must become intelligent politicians. The women of
the Scottish Liberal Federation rejoice in recognizing that
power now rests with the people. Wc have trust in the people y

618 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and believing that government by the people, for the people,
is the true source from which social betterment must pro-
ceed, we design to educate and inform the women of our
country on all questions exercising the public mind and
conscience; that, by their influence, they may stimulate
those who possess the privilege of the franchise to a con-
scientious and resolute exercise of their rights. The hor-
rors of the liquor trafiic, of underpaid labor and the sweating
systems, the better housing of the working-classes, and
the struggles of labor with capital are questions closely
affecting every home in the land ; but these are all on the
political platform, and surely the women of our country,
who are so deeply interested, are called upon to form and
express opinions, and to do all that possibly can be done to
bring about a just solution. Let me say that it is not
required that women should possess the franchise before
beginning to make their influence felt in this way. In-
deed, the case would seem to be the other way about, and
it may be questioned if they ever will succeed in acquiring
franchise rights until they first become a political force in
the country.

The federation through its bills committee has considered
and supported all measures dealing with the social and
political amelioration of the people. In the session of 1892,
among the bills considered was the " Factory Act Amend-
ment " bill, on which the following amendments were drawn
up and submitted to members of Parliament: (i) The
providing better sanitary arrangements in factories. (2)
The removal of restrictions on women's labor. (3) The
insertion of provisions dealing with the sweating system.
(4) Raising the age at which children enter the factories.

Although by the passing of the ** Factory Amendment
Act'* the worker has received greater protection, nothing
has been done to reduce the evils of " sweating "; while the
entrance age for children has only been raised to eleven
years. One clause provides that no woman shall engage in
factory work until one month after child-birth.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 619

Doctor Hunter's " Divorce Amendment " bill for England
was heartily supported by the committee. The conveners
sent an appeal to each Scottish member of Parliament ask-
ing him to be in the House, and to support the second
reading, which was set down for the 1 5th of March. Unfort-
unately, the bill was crowded out. This was also the fate
of Mr. Stuart's " Women as County Councillors " bill ; and
Mr. Woodairs bill for ** Extending the Franchise to Women '*
had to give place to other public business. The committee
petitioned in favor of these bills.

Another bill brought in at the beginning of that session
aflFecting the conditions of women's work was Mr. Provand's
" Shop Hours " bill. After consideration by the committee,
the following resolution and amendment to the bill were
adopted and recommended for discussion at the meeting of
the council :

**That, while in favor of a reduction in the excessive
hours of labor of shop assistants, both in the case of men
and women, the Scottish Women's Liberal Federation con-
siders that Mr. Provand's bill, by fixing a maximum number
of hours for shop-women only, will place them at a disad-
vantage with men in that kind of work, but approves of the
principle of the bill in regard to young persons.

"The federation is of the opinion that Section lo of Mr.
Provand's bill, which exempts the employer's family from
the provisions of the bill, is inequitable, and ought not to be
passed into law."

The following bills dealing with temperance were also
supported : '* Grocers* License " bill, " Local Veto " bill,
** Early Closing Act Amendment " bill, " Sale of Intoxicat-
ing Liquors to Children " bill. The committee petitioned
in favor of Mr. Buchanan's " Right of Way " bill. The
** Married Women's (Artisans' Wives) " bill was considered,
as also Sir J. Lubbock's "Shops Weekly Half-Holiday"
bill, and Mr. Burt's " Employers' Liability " bill.

On the recommendation of the bills committee, the
executive submitted several resolutions to the University

820 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Commissioners appointed under the University Act of 1889,
as amendments on the draft ordinance dealing with the
graduation of women and their instruction in the universi-
ties.

It is gratifying to learn that the final ordinances empower
the University Court to open all the faculties to women ;
that the museums and libraries may be used by women,
although no provision is made for women*s sharing in the
bursaries ; and that the ordinances with certain restrictions
are retrospective — allowing women to graduate who have
already attended regular courses and obtained certificates
in examinations of the same character and standard as those
for the M. A. degree.

On account of the general election which took place last
summer there was no proposed legislation for the bills com-
mittee to discuss until after the opening of Parliament in
the end of January of this year 1893.

Among the government measures which the committee
recommended the executive of the federation to support,
without binding itself to approval of all details, are the
Government of Ireland bill and the Liquor Traffic Local
Control bill.

The literature committee has also published and distrib-
uted leaflets dealing with the questions of the day, such
as, " Why Am I a Liberal ? " ** Can People be Made Sober by
Act of Parliament ? " ** Why Should Women Desire Relig-
ious Equality?" "Trades Unions for Working- Women,"
** Woman's Suffrage."

During the last year several municipal bodies were asked
to consider the advisability of appointing women inspectors
under the Shop Hours Act ; and the Countess of Aberdeen
represented the Scottish Women's Liberal Federation on a
deputation to the home secretary desiring that women be
appointed factory inspectors.

In answer to this request two women factory inspectors
have been appointed, and if the experiment succeeds the
number will be increased.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 521

At present the federation embraces thirty associations,
with a membership of four thousand nine hundred and
eighty-three, and these under the organizing secretary, Miss
Kellie, are being gradually added to.

The work of the federation is carried on by the office-
bearers and executive committee of twenty members, rep-
resenting eastern and western constituencies of Scotland.

The general result of the movement has been, so far, the
development of women's interest and zeal for all questions
affecting the public welfare. It may also be said that the
indirect influence of the movement has been to hasten
women's emancipation from the old bonds of custom and
prejudice, stronger often than statutes.

FiNSK QVINNOFORENING, THE FINNISH WoMEN'S ASSO-

ciATiON — Address by Baroness Gripenberg of Fin-
land, Read by Meri Toppelius of Finland.

Far away, beyond the seas, unknown and forgotten, there
is one of civilization's most northern outposts, Finland, like
a reflex in the snow, of European culture. In America
the spring has entered long ago, with warm winds, and
dressed nature in fresh verdure. In Finland at this time
the ice has but just gone from the thousand lonely lakes,
and the birch begins cautiously to put forth small, tender
leaves. In the same way the woman's cause in America
has long ago had its spring, while in Finland it now first
develops the leaves. One of those leaves is the association
which I have the honor to represent, Finsk Qvinnoforening,
the Finnish women's association, the first organization for
women's rights in Finland. Its name in the Finnish lan-
guage is Suomen Neisyhdistys. Some of you have heard of it
before, as it was represented also at the first international
council of women in Washington, 1888, by Alexandra
Gripenberg. Finsk Qvinnoforening is one of the most north-
em outposts of women's work, a reflex high in the north of

522 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the movement which is going on in the large countries for
the enfranchisement of women. I will in a few words
touch upon the causes for its organization. History shows
us that in countries which have had to struggle for their
existence women through this struggle have received strong
impulses in their own causes. It has been so in Finland.
We are a little nation, which belonged to Sweden for more
than six hundred years, until we, in 1809, were united to
Russia. Our chief endeavor now became to maintain our
national individuality. Perhaps you who belong to the
great American people find it ridiculous that we, a hand-
ful of men and women, did not prefer to be assimilated by
a greater nation, but obstinately kept to our existence as a
separate one. Perhaps such an endeavor is chimerical,
nevertheless many small nations before us have struggled
successfully for the same Utopia. We had meanwhile great
and serious obstacles to conquer. Since our long union
with Sweden, the Swedish language had grown to be the
predominant one in the schools, the offices, the law courts,
and among the educated classes. The people's own lan-
guage, the Finnish tongue, was entirely different from the
Swedish, and though it was spoken by six-sevenths of the
population, it had no rights whatever. It was uncultivated
and despised, and every one who wished to participate in
western culture had as a first step to give up his native
language.

The depreciation following this neglect was most danger-
ous, because if our nationality was to be maintained, the
language, which is the expression of that nationality, must
be preserved and cultivated. It must be the medium of
education and government or national self-respect can not
be sustained. A great reform movement now arose whose
aim was to gain for the Finnish language its natural rights.
I can not here dwell upon the fact that there were many
who in these efforts saw a danger for our people. The
main thing is, that the Finnish nationality movement broke
forth with irresistible power. The whole people became

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. C)2S

seized by this idea, which swept through the country like
a mighty spring storm. The leading men appealed to the
mothers, through whom the idea was to go to the coming
generation by the education of the children in their native
tongue. The women did not remain indifferent, and for
them this movement became the plow which prepared the
field for another great idea — that of their own rights.
Their activity in the nationality movement awoke them to
their duties by the possibility of their usefulness in other
public reforms. Women participated in the work for the
improvement of the language and the starting of schools
and newspapers. Women managed large sales of their
work and gave the money to the national party. Side by
side with men women worked for the nationality idea, and
many sacrificed their best years, their youthful enthusiasm,
their wealth to this movement.

The homes of the more prominent women became head-
quarters for many of the leaders, and women learned
through their discussions the value and importance of
organized work and associated powers.

This happened at the same time that our country was
reached by the echoes of the great movement for the
enfranchisement of women which was going on in Eng-
land and Sweden in the sixties. Thus it is natural that the
nationality work became an important means of develop-
ment for the women of Finland. Even those who did not
approve of the language movement were forced to become
acquainted with its attendant social questions, with which
our press resounded, and which in greater or less degree
had been called forth through the awakened self-conscious-
ness of the nation. Thus the language movement became
also an indirect means of awakening the women to a sepse
of their rights and responsibilities. I can not here dwell
upon the work done by the individual women at this time.
I want only to tell about the Finnish women's first attempt
to organize their effort to raise the position of their sex. In
the spring of 1883 a number of ladies in Helsingfors, our

524 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

capital, assembled to read and discuss John Stuart Mill's
" The Subjection of Women." The following year, in the
May of 1 884, this little circle constituted itself into Finsk
Qvinnoforening, whose first president was Mrs. Elizabeth
Lofgren.
Its platform ran thus :

1. The same right for women as for men to higher and professional
education.

2. Right for women to pass the examinations in the university.

3. Right to same salary without regard to sex.

4. Right of married as well as unmarried women to majority at twenty-
one years of age.

5. Right of married women to hold property.

6

7. Right of women who have the municipal vote to hold municipal
office.

8. Right of women to political suffrage on the same principles as men.

9. The legal age of marriage raised to beyond fifteen years, which is
the prevailing custom in Finland.

10. Unfaithfulness, ill-treatment, or a high degree of drunkenness con-
stituted by law a cause for divorce.

1 1 . The same moral restrictions in law and custom for men as those
which now prevail for women. Also, as a part of the platform, the meeting
passed resolutions in support of the federation.

The platform is almost literally the same as that accepted
by the first women's rights meeting in Seneca Falls, 1848,
although this was not known by the founders of our little
association. Thus great ideas scatter their seeds in diffei^
ent countries, as the summer wind scatters the pollen of
fiowers. I will not detain you by an account of the diffi-
culties which met our young association. They have most
truly been about the same everywhere. I will say only a
few words about the work done by Finsk Qvinnoforening.

Of course it has a different character from that of the
women's associations in America. Where freedom is the
foundation for the development of the people, there the
work for the enfranchisement of women usually is concen-
trated upon suffrage work. But in countries which do not
enjoy political liberty, and where even men's suffrage is

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 525

limited, one must concentrate the work upon questions con-
cerning higher education, professional training, and general
enlightenment for women. Thus Finsk Qvinnoforening
has been able to show its sympathies for women's suffrage
rather than to work for it. We have, on the other hand,
taken initiative petitions to the Diet, which in Finland as-
sembles every third year, asking that women may enter
the university without special permission ; that married
women's majority, as well as that of unmarried women, be
fixed at twenty-one years of age, without special request ;
that women may be elected poor law guardians ; and that
regulated vice shall be abolished.

We have in lectures and newspaper articles urged mar-
ried women's right to hold property; and by circulars to
women who have the municipal vote, suggested to them to
use this right. But the association has worked chiefly for
the information and education of women of the so-called
lower classes, by lectures, elementary classes, summer
homes, by a cooking-school and an office for promoting the
employment of women. In connection with this I must
mention a circumstance peculiar to our association. Besides
the central association, we have six branch unions, of which
three are in the country, counting chiefly peasant women
as their members. This, I think, is rather exceptional. I
believe that you, ladies and gentlemen, would feel it a reve-
lation if you could be present at a meeting some chilly
winter evening in one of those little country associations^
and see the rows of simple women in the Finnish peasant-
woman's coarse, dark-blue dress — wSome of them having,,
perhaps, walked several miles in the snow to come to the
meeting — see their tough, resigned faces lightened by in-
terest and their eyes expectantly fastened on the speaker's
lips. These branch unions mostly work for the instruction
of poor girls in needlework and trades; they also have
lectures, reading-circles, and meetings for their own mem-
bers; some of them have started cooking and weaving
schools.

36

526 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

It is interesting to see how simply and naturally many of
these unlearned women embrace an idea which many of
their educated sisters in all countries still regard only as a
whim or a passing freak of our time. Finsk Qvinnoforen-
ing can not do much for the improvement of women's legal
position in Finland; but the leading thought, the red
thread in our work, is our effort to raise the women of the
working-classes. We believe, and nothing can make us
alter our belief, that only in this way will our cause get
firmly rooted and have a future in our country. In January,
1892, Finsk Qvinnoforening had its first meeting with its
branch unions. This meeting was called to discuss ques-
tions concerning the position of our sex. At present we
are preparing for an exhibition of women's work in the
spring of 1894, when our association will celebrate the first
decade of its existence. Finsk Qvinnoforening has a stipen-
dium, called ** Elizabeth Lofgren's stipendium,** in honor of
its first president. The association, including its branch
unions, counts at present four hundred members.

As you see, the life of Finsk Qvinnoforening has not
been long. She is a baby compared with the National
American Woman's Suffrage Association. Still, you must
follow this baby with kindness. She is, with her feeble
forces, as attached to our common cause as large associa-
tions; and then, she is one of your extreme outguards in
the north. Our great national poet, Zacharias Toppelius,
says about Finland, that its culture exhibits one of hu-
manity's most patient and most energetic victories over
the natural powers, and its history is an evidence of what
a people is able to endure without losing itself.

** This country can not be buried in the snow ; this people
can not be blotted out from the list of nations without
leaving an empty place in the north of Europe and a
vacancy in the reflexes of its civilization." I venture in a
certain way to apply these words to us, your little sister
association. If we yield to the difficulties, if we cease to be
— then, in spite of our insignificance, there will be a

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 627

vacancy, here in the far north, in the reflexes of the work
done in the great countries for the enfranchisement of
women.

The Association for Married Women's Property
Rights — Apdress by Baroness Thorborg-Rappe of
Sweden.

Numerous legislative reforms were effected in the middle
of this century, and particularly during the sixties and the
early part of the seventies, with a view to improve the
position of woman socially and intellectually. Thus in
1858 it was by several enactments fixed that unmarried
women should be of age at twenty-five years, if making an
application, and later (1863), without such an application;
in 1872 she was, if of age, released from the requirements
of having the consent of her nearest kinsman to her mar-
riage; in 1859 colleges were established for the education
of lady teachers in rudimentary schools, and women were
admitted as teachers in the public schools, and in i860
into high schools for educating lady teachers of a higher
grade; in 1863 women were employed in post ofl[ices, in
the telegraphic service, and as clerks in the administrative
bureaus of the railways; in 1870 women were admitted
to the universities and allowed to become practicing phy-
sicians.

However, all of these reforms tended to benefit only the
unmarried woman. For the married woman nothing had
been done since the royal statute of 1845 had granted a
wife equal matrimonial rights with her husband. She was
still ruled by the unaltered provisions of the statutes of
1734, investing her husband with a right of full guardian-
ship and a full management over herself and whatever
property she might have inherited or obtained before or
after her marriage, with the exception of landed estate,
wherein the husband had no share, and which he was not

628 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

allowed to sell, to mortgage, or to transfer without the con-
sent of his wife.

Ever since L. J. Hierta, in the Riksdag of 1862, intro-
duced a bill relative to the rights of married people, the
attention of the legislators had from time to time been
drawn to the position of the married woman ; and bills ask-
ing that she should have protection against the unbounded
sovereignty of her husband were introduced by the same
mover in the Riksdag every year, but without success.

A daughter of Mr. L. J. Hierta, Miss A. Hierta, in consort
with some other persons living in the capital, and warmly
interested in the movement, decided in the early part of the
seventies to form a society, the chief aim of which was to
make known the injustice of the laws concerning the mar-
ried woman, and to enlist sympathy for reform on this sub-
ject in and out of the Riksdag.

Their efforts were regarded favorably, and February 6,
1873, the "Association for the Married Woman's Property
Rights " was founded, the earliest society in Sweden for the
support of woman's rights. The invitation to join the
society was signed by Mr. L. J. Hierta, the director-general,
G. Fr. Almquist, Mrs. E. Anharsuard, Miss A. Hierta, Mr. and
Mrs. Limnell, Mrs. H. Sohlman, and Mrs. A. Wallenberg.
Before the first meeting of the association, however, Mr. L.
J. Hierta had died. All the other signers of the invitation
were elected members of the board of directors, and also
Mrs. E. Lind of Hageby (bom Hierta), and Baron O. Stack-
elberg. Mr. Almquist was elected president and Mrs.
Anharsuard secretary of the association.

The first paragraph of the rules of the association con-
tained : ** The aim of the association will be to effect such
legislative measures that a married woman shall be recog-
nized as possessing the right to have the management of
the property she may have inherited or obtained before or
after marriage, and consequently also of the income she may
derive from her work."

The newly formed association commenced very actively,

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 629

and with an energy apparent in various directions, such as
numerous meetings, public discourses, the publication of
pamphlets, etc. Moreover, arduous efforts were made to
cause bills to be introduced in the Riksdag relative to the
proprietary rights of the husband and wife. Mr. W. Wallden
introduced a bill on the subject in the Riksdag as early
as 1873, but it met with no more encouragement than its
predecessors, and was rejected.

In the Riksdag of the ensuing year the question was
again debated. Bills were then introduced in the First
Chamber by Mr. Nordenfelt and in the Second Chamber
by Mr. Philipson. The Legislative Committee of the Riks-
dag of that year had prepared and offered for consideration
a proposition by which a wife was to have the right of
management of such of her property as by marriage settle-
ment had been exempted from the management of her hus-
band, or such property as she had obtained by gift or by
testament, and in regard to which it had been specially
stipulated that it was to be her private property. A mar-
ried woman should, besides, have the privilege of exclu-
sively disposing of her own earnings. This proposition was
approved by both the Chambers, and sanctioned by a royal
decree on the i ith of December, 1874.

In this way the first step was taken on the road to
reform. The association now considered that the means
most efficacious to further the progress of the question
would be to get a treatise written demanding legislative
measures to secure a married woman the privilege of hav-
ing the control of her private property without the neces-
sity of previous stipulations; it offered three prizes (of
two thousand, seven hundred, and three hundred crowns
respectively), to be awarded the authors of the most effective
essays, and the ones most in correspondence with the aims
of the association.

Nine competitors appeared, but their papers, examined
by a commission of experts appointed by the association,
were not considered worthy of the first prize ; the two other

5:^0 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

prizes were distributed, and also an extra prize of one thou-
sand crowns, rewarding a third paper that was made the
basis for a bill introduced by Mr. C. J. Suens6n in the Riks-
dag in 1 877, but which was rejected by the Chambers.

Baron O. Stackelberg then introduced a bill in the Riks-
dag of 1883, demanding great amendments in the marriage
law, and the repeal of the provision making the husband
the legal guardian of the wife, and also the abolition of the
community of property of a husband and his wife. This
bill being disapproved, not less than four other bills relative
to the possession in common of the property owned by a
married couple were introduced in the next Riksdag, 1884.
The Riksdag now made a representation on the subject to
his Royal Majesty, requesting the preparation of a plan for
the alteration of the enactments regarding the property
owned in common by a married couple, with the special
object of increasing the rights of the married woman.

On account of this request his royal majesty directed the
Legislative Chamber to prepare a bill embracing the ends
in view.

As the question concerning the property rights of the
married woman could for the present be considered in abey-
ance, while the Legislative Chamber was preparing the bill,
it was proposed, within the association, that its programme
should include other subjects also, with the aim of advanc-
ing the cause of the unmarried woman, as well as that of
the married one, socially and politically. The project was
adopted in March, 1886, and the first paragraph of the rules
of the association, when altered, read :

" The foremost object of the association is to accomplish
such amendments in the Swedish laws that a married
woman shall be recognized as having the right of control
over such property as she may have inherited, or obtained
previous to her marriage or afterward. The efforts of the
association will at the same time aim to bring about all such
enactments and other measures as may serve to improve
the social position of woman.*'

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 531

Among the objects which the association added to its
programme were: "That women, oftener than hitherto
had been the case, should use their right of voting at
municipal elections; that women should be elected on
school boards and on the boards of guardians of the poor.

In consequence of the bill which Mr. A. Hedin pre-
sented in the Riksdag that very year, the association had
immediate occasion to take up the question of co-education,
as the bill asked that the instruction in the higher forms of
the state's elementary colleges should, when space per-
mitted, be open also to girls. A well attended meeting for
discussion of the topic was arranged, where, in a lively de-
bate, co-education was critically examined from different
points. A statement taken down in shorthand of the
instructive discourses was subsequently published as a
pamphlet.

Professor C. Wallis, one of the directors of the association,
while traveling in the United States the following year,
made co-education his special study, and upon his return
the association arranged public discussions on the sub-
ject. Professor Wallis told of co-education in the United
States, and projects for its introduction in Sweden were
discussed.

A commission having been appointed by the government
to investigate the education of girls, and having submitted
their report January 19, 1888, the association arranged a
large meeting to argxie on the question, the education of
g^rls, with special regard to co-education. About six hun-
dred persons attended this meeting, and co-education proved
to have warm sympathizers in vastly diflferent social spheres,
not fewest among teachers, men as well as women.

The plan prepared by the Legislative Chamber for amend-
ing the enactments with regard to the property owned by a
married couple was published in October, 1888, and the
association endeavored to have the public made cognizant
of its purpose by means of lectures, discourses, articles in
the newspapers, etc.

fi32 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

By the communal regulations of 1862 a woman fulfilling
the established prescriptions was granted the right to vote
at municipal elections, but very few had availed themselves
of this privilege; thus in the city of Stockholm in 1887,
where the women entitled to vote numbered four thousand
eight hundred and forty-four, with sixty-two thousand three
hundred and sixty-three votes at their command, only a
very small number made use of their rights of suffrage.
Antagonists were always ready with this argument when
the extension of woman's civil privileges was demanded ;
and most particularly when her right as to political suffrage
was concerned, it was constantly represented that it was of
no avail to allow her more privileges when she hardly
profited by those already granted.

To enjoin on woman more generally to make use of her
right to vote for the municipal council, the vestry board,
etc., therefore became the most imperative concern of the
association.

Prior to the election of councilmen in the city of Stock-
holm in March, 1877, a largely attended meeting was held.
The discussion commenced with a stirring and instructive
address delivered by Count Hamilton, and treated of the
participation of women in municipal elections.

To work for this cause in a still more effective manner,
the association appointed a committee of ladies, who took
the following practical measures :

The names of all women in the Capital entitled to vote
were copied from the list of electors, as well as the number
of votes at the disposal of each. An election bureau cen-
trally located was instituted, and there the members of the
commission attended by turns, furnishing required informa-
tion Also there were distributed more than four thousand
circulars, urging women having the right to vote not to
shrink from their duty, and supplying the necessary infor-
mation as to what was to be observed by the voters. The
result was a lively participation in the election on the part
of women. At the elections to the municipal council in the

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 533

following years the same measures were taken by the asso-
ciation, and always with a favorable result.

On account of a bill introduced in the Riksdag by Mr. S.
S. Borg in 1887, asking for women the right to be elected
members on school boards and on boards of guardians for
the poor, meetings for public discussion were arranged by
the association, addressed among others by Mr. A. Hedin,
a member of the Riksdag.

The resolution of the Legislature in 1889, declaring
women to be eligible to the school boards and to boards
of guardians of the poor, was brought about chiefly by the
energetic exertions of the association ; and in the autumn
of 1889, in one of the largest parishes in the capital, a
woman was for the first time elected a member on a school
board, this lady being Miss Lily Engstrom, a teacher in the
State's Normal School for Girls. In the ensuing year the
association continued in the same direction, with the result
that women were elected members on school boards in three
other parishes in the capital. In other parts of the country
the same charge has also been intrusted to women.

Moreover, a great many other bills touching on questions
coming within the domain of the activity of the association
have been strongly supported, as, for instance, the bill intro-
duced by Mr. Borg demanding that the age when women
are marriageable should be raised from fifteen to twenty-one
years. The bill passed in the Riksdag in 1 889, though with a
modification, it being established that a woman under
seventeen is not allowed to marry. By the same mover was
further asked an enlarged right for women in regard to
divorce, and by Mr. P. Waldenstrom enactments for civil
marriage were demanded.

The plan for amendments concerning the property owned
in common by husband and wife, prepared by the Legislat-
ive Chamber, and sharply criticised by the Supreme Court,
was not, according to the decision of his Royal Majesty, to
be taken as the basis for a proposition to be laid before
the Riksdag, the Legislative Chamber having instead been

534 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

directed to prepare amendatory enactments as to the sep-
aration of property and corresponding ordinances. The
association consequently now judged the moment suitable
for recommencing the agitation in the Riksdag for the
proprietary rights of the married woman.

Two of the directors of the association introduced bills on
this matter in the Riksdag of 1892. Count H. Hamilton
moved for the repeal of the matrimonial right in respect to
such landed estate in cities and towns as either the husband
or the wife had inherited during the marriage, or had ob-
tained previous to their marriage, and moved that a husband
should not have the power to transfer, mortgage, or dispose
of any real estate owned by the couple in common without
having the consent of the wife. Mr. M. Hojer moved
for the abolition of a husband's guardianship over his wife,
as well as the revocation of the community of property of a
married couple. Count Hamilton's proposition passed in
the Second Chamber, but was defeated in the First, while
Mr. H5jer's bill was rejected in both Chambers.

Simultaneously with the proceedings in the Riksdag, the
association had caused a pamphlet to be published, entitled
" The Main Points in Swedish Statutes Regarding Women,"
written by Mr. Karl Straff, a young lawyer. It is a popular
exposition of the enactments relative to women, and pro-
claims the injustices and disparities still in existence.
Besides this pamphlet already mentioned, the association
has published fifteen essays, under the title, ** Concerning the
Proprietary Rights of the Married Woman,** discussing the
methods followed by the association, and setting forth the
bills introduced in the Riksdag, the debates concerning
them, and the enactments made by the Legislature, the
memorials submitted by committees, the competitory papers
on plans for legislative measures, the addresses made at the
meetings of the association, etc.

In addition, the association has caused a form for wills
to be prepared and published for the guidance of parents
who might wish that the fortune inherited by their daugh-

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 535

ters should remain entirely or partially under their own
control, even after they are married.

The board of directors appointed by the association has
nine regular and three supplementary members. The
president is elected from among the members of the board,
as well as the vice-president and the secretary and treasurer.
These offices have since the organization of the association
been held by the following persons :

Presidents: Mr. T. G. Almquist (1873-78), Professor H.
Gylden (1878-86), Baron B. O. Stackelberg (1886-88), and
Count Hamilton (1888). Vice-presidents: Mrs. T. Limnell
(1873-86) and Mrs. A. Retzius (1886). Secretaries and treas-
urers: Mrs. E. Anharsuard (1873-86), Mrs. E. Lind of
Hageby (1886-89), Miss C. Nauman (1891), Miss M. Cedus-
chiald (1892).

At present the other members of the board are : Mrs. E.
Anharsuard ; Mr. E. Beckman, member of the Second Cham-
ber of the Riksdag ; Mr. H. Sohlman, editor ; Mr. M. Hojer,
member of the Second Chamber of the Riksdag ; Mrs. A.
Berfstedt ; Mr. C. Lindhagen, accessor of the high court of
law ; and the supplementary members, Miss Ellen Fries and
the Misses G. Hjelmecrus and A. Lindhagen.

It is nearly twenty years since the association was
formed, and many are the obstacles which it has had to
surmoitnt, such as the repugnance natural in man to resign
any of his privileges, the women's indifference, and the
conservatism of legislators, and still the chief object of the
association remains unattained, namely, the revocation of a
husband's gxiardianship over his wife.

The association can nevertheless with satisfaction con-
sider what has been accomplished by means of its activity :
many prejudices are undermined by it ; the righteousness
of its aims is being more widely acknowledged ; men and
women conspicuous for ability and discernment have joined
the association, and given it their support; by an act of
1874 the married woman is allowed to be mistress of her

636 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

own earnings ; and other reforms have also been brought
about by the association.

The association has then every reason to look hopefully
to the future, assured one day, sooner or later, df seeing
the completion of its proposed task : woman declared equal
to man judicially as well as socially, as a citizen and as a
human being.

CHAPTER X.— INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS.

Prefatory Comment by the Editor — Extracts from Addresses Deuv-
ered in the general congress and from discussions of these
Addresses by Augusta Cooper Bristol, Lin a Morgenstern, Euzabet
Kaselowsky, Juan a A. Neal, Karla Machova, Florence Elizabeth
Cory, Emily Sartain, M. B. Alling, Luetta E. Braumuller, M.
Louise McLaughlin, Alice M. Hart, Helena T. Goessmann, Kaethe
Schirmacher, Alice Timmons Toomy, Rev. Anna H. Shaw, Emily
Marshall Wadsworth, Kate Bond, and Harriette A. Keyser — Brief
Extracts from a Paper Prepared for the Report Congress by E. E.
Anderson — Brief Extracts from an Address Delivered in the
Department Congress op the National Columbian Household Eco-
nomic Association by Mary Coleman Stuckert — Address Delivered

IN THE SAME DEPARTMENT CoNGRESS BY JaNE AdDAMS.

THE idea is still current that as a rule women are " sup-
ported " by men. Upon this popular delusion the
following pages throw much light. The speakers
cited in this chapter regard the general theme from a
marked variety of standpoints. The views presented re-
flect to a degree the nationality, the actual and the relative
social positions, of their respective authors ; but the variety
in method of approaching and treating the industrial posi-
tion of women, and the diversity of occupations from which
the illustrations are drawn, only emphasize certain central
facts.

No class of people entertains higher ideals of family life,
or has a clearer and nobler conception of the reciprocal obli-
gations of men and women in the home, than the class
usually referred to as ** women of advanced ideas." It is
also in the homes of this class of women that the highest
average of domestic happiness, and of all that properly may
be included in the phrase domestic success, is unquestion-
ably found. The literature bearing upon domestic problems

(687)

538 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

which has been produced by women proves that the class of
women called "advanced** anticipates the time when the
value of human life will be appreciated more highly, and
the influence of prenatal conditions and of early training
will be understood better. Women then will do no work
outside of the home during the years when they are bearing
and rearing children, and then fathers will cease to be
merely family banks, and will regard an active share in the
training, education, and personal care of their children as
the inevitable result of paternity. Doubtless, in general, a
mother alone can "bring up " children better than a father
alone can ; but sometime the race will have reached a stage
in its development when it will not rest satisfied with a
choice between evils; when, instead of accepting the better
of two defects, it will demand a positive good ; then it will
demand and obtain for infancy the combined personal
attention of both fathers and mothers.

Before this state can be reached the whole industrial situ-
ation must undergo a change. One element in this change
is a recognition of the pecuniary value of woman's time, of
woman's labor. The pecuniary value of the time and labor
spent by women in their homes, in the care of their children,
and in establishing the social relations of the family and
directing its social life, will never be understood and
admitted until woman has demonstrated to the average
mind the pecuniary value of her services in all outside
occupations, industries, trades, and professions.

The present state of the industrial world as exhibited
in this chapter affords such a demonstration. The dem-
onstration involves statements from which may be
inferred the degree to which women actually contribute
to carrying on the labor and business of the world. It
exhibits a nearly universal consciousness in women of
their right to do any work they can do, unhampered by
abstract considerations of original divine intention or of
ultimate divine purpose. It shows a growing inclination to
demand that pay shall be determined by the quantity and

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 639

the quality of the work done independent of the sex of
the worker ; a shrewd comprehension of the circumstances
that hinder the application of this rule in the industrial
world, and a perception of the value of organization as a
means of controlling these hindering circumstances.

It is also clear that women are questioning whether it be
not possible to enroll among the professions that odd med-
ley of duties commonly lumped under the word "house-
keeping/* which, proceeding from the affections, must be
performed under the guidance of the judgment; whether
this complicated labor can not be simplified and managed
by the application of the same principles of division and
cooperation which control in other fields.

Finally, this chapter reveals a recognition of the fact that
the law of solidarity has no exceptions, and that wealth,
rank, talents, and culture, separately or all combined, do
not exempt the woman possessing them from the effects of
any injustice suffered by the poorest, the lowest, feeblest,
and most ignorant of women, if suffered in consequence of
her sex.— [The Editor.]

Woman the New Factor in Economics — Address by
Augusta Cooper Bristol of New Jersey.

When a speaker or writer is assigned a theme for eluci-
dation it is important at the outset to have a clear under-
standing of the terms of that theme. " He shall be as a
god to me who can rightly divide and define,** said Plato ; and
as the world gets older it subscribes more and more to Plato.
A definition of the terms of my theme, as presented in dic-
tionary and encyclopedia, arrays it as a paradox ; establishes
woman as the oldest as well as the newest factor in
economics ; the earliest and latest, according to the area to
which the term " economics '* is applied. It is important to
note all that this fact involves.

We find that economics in its primary application signi-

540 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

fied the science of household aflfairs; the adjustment of
domestic expenditures to the income. We may rationally
conclude that in early forms of society the responsibility of
the then narrow domain of economics fell almost entirely
upon woman, inasmuch as we find it illustrated at the pres-
ent day among races that have not yet risen out of primi-
tive social phases. A recent writer upon the customs of
Central Africa states that the work in an African village is
done chiefly by the women ; they hoe the fields, sow the
seed, and reap the harvest. To them too falls all the labor
of building the houses, grinding the com, brewing the beer,
cooking, washing, and caring for almost all the material
interests of the community.

It is from this primitive social outlook that we find
woman to be the principal factor in economics ; the initiator
at least of the whole system which follows, whether its area
be the family, the community, or the nation ; the original
source from which all world-wide economics are evolved.
For although as defined, political economy ** is a science of
the laws which providence has established for the regula-
tion of supply and demand in communities," yet the same
authority affirms that the disposition to adapt the expendi-
ture of a household to its income is one of the phenomena
which make up those laws of nature.

From this point of view woman is the origfinal factor in
all systems of economics, the demure goddess at the fount-
ain-head, determining the quantity and quality of the
waters that flow therefrom. As an organic body g^ows
only through the cells which compose it, and as the house-
hold is the cell of the social organism, so domestic economy
is the original unfolding principle of all larger economics.

I am desirous that this truth should become established
in the consciousness of woman, here, now, and evermore,
that she may have a just estimate of her place and power
in the evolutionary scheme of life, when it reached the
point of the social beginnings of the race ; that she may
perceive that neither from the present nor the future does

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 541

she receive her credentials as an economic factor, but from
the primal constitution of society itself, as the originator of
the vast scheme of economics which introduces and links
the nations to each other, of which man alone has been the
recognized exponent and director. Although, man has cast
a blind eye on this truth, yet if woman perceives it clearly,
she can well afford to smile serenely on his self-gratulation
as umpire of economics. For the woman soul, in the dis-
covery and realization of its high place in the scheme of
things, will find that power of equanimity which sooner or
later converts every obstacle into an auxiliary, all hin-
drances into means of advance. This interior ascension of
the spirit into an imperturbable equanimity is our great
need as women. If we would make all external advantage
more swiftly our own, we must abolish all interior sense of
bondage and disadvantage, and sailing info externals on
the fullness of that strength, believe and take the whole
arena of affairs as our native domain. Emancipate the
thought from the ever-present cramping sense of personal
disadvantage, and internal wrong, and a miracle follows.
The spirit at once assumes its proper majesty, and gathers
up the reins of directing power. A few individual examples,
here and there, among women demonstrate my statement,
and we call them the World's Representative Women.
Their persevering and telling efforts for woman's advance-
ment are not from the standpoint of woman as woman, but
from the standpoint of the unity and solidarity of the race ;
the proper balance of the social forces.

Woman has been, and forever will be, a hero-worshiper,
but the hero enlarges. It is neither man nor woman, but
humanity. To her, the woman cause means the ** righting
up" of this deformed hero, humanity. She labors for
justice to woman as a means to an end, and that end the
conformity of civilization to the perfecting organic principle
which Spencer styles " a moving equilibrium." The women
invested with largest power to bring about this state of
social equity are women who in their spiritual forces have

86

542 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

attained this condition of " a moving equilibrium/* There
is perhaps nothing else that will bring the rank and file of
women so quickly and surely into this state of spiritual
balance and power as a realization of the magnitude of
woman's relations to the entire system of economics.

The lad who believed himself to be the child of a peasant,
expressed in his personality and bearing only the common
nature and manner of the peasant life ; but learning one
day from a stranger that he was the child of a king, he was
transformed, by his consciousness of the fact, from the peas-
ant weakling to the dignity and power of spirit native to
his true relation.

Woman then being the oldest factor in economics, under
what aspect of truth do we now regard her as the new
factor? Looking at her economic relationships to-day, and
•comparing them with those of the past, the contrast is as
marked as that of day with night. It is the recognition of
this contrast that fixes her as the new element in industrial
development. The light of morning is new to one who
wakens, but that same light was on its way through the
darkness, and it is old with travel. What engineer has ever
laid out the line where darkness terminates and dawn
begins? So with woman's industrial advance. She attains
new areas, but the attaining is old with continuity of un-
flinching struggle.

The new economic area to which woman has attained in
this latter half of the nineteenth century is that of the
creation of wealth. Her economic responsibilities are no
longer limited to the application and distribution of supplies ;
she is a wealth-producer in the broadest meaning of the
term — not indirectly, but directly; and this it is which
constitutes her new relation as an economic fact. What is
it to be a creator of wealth ? What is wealth ? No one has
furnished us with a better definition than Henry George.
*' Wealth,'* he says, " consists of natural products modified
by human exertion so as to fit them for the gratification of
human desires ; it is labor impressed upon matter in such a

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 543

way as to store it up. When a country increases in wealth,
it increases in certain tangible things, such as agricultural
and mineral products, manufactured goods of all kinds,
buildings, cattle, tools, machinery, ships, wagons, furniture,
etc." Into this spacious wealth-producing domain, the auton-
omy of which determines a nation's place among nations,
woman has found entrance as an active agent among its
complex forces. Still further does she illustrate Henry
George's definition of a producer of wealth, as he adds, ** Nor
should it be forgotten that the investigator, the philosopher,
the teacher, the artist, the priest, the poet, though not engaged
in the production of wealth, are not only engaged in the
production of utilities and satisfactions to which the produc-
tion of wealth is only a means, but by acquiring and diffus-
ing knowledge, stimulating mental power, and elevating the
moral sense they may greatly increase the ability to pro-
duce wealth ; for * man does not live by bread alone.* "

Into this higher atmosphere of wealth production, where
professions are ranked and ideas generated, woman has
seemingly compelled her own ascent; for whenever and
wherever we lift our eyes to these intellectual ramparts, she
passes before our vision. I state this advisedly, for the
number of industries and professions now open to woman
runs into the hundreds ; and one authority states that all
occupations and callings are now open to her, if she have the
courage to enter them. If a general should say to his sol-
diers, " My boys, the enemy's intrenchments are ours if you
have the courage to take them," it would not mean that the
intrenchments were thrown open for possession. So far as
women have hitherto made headway into the promised
land, even from the first step upon its boundaries, they
have cast up this highway of courage every inch of the
route. So I dare not claim large comfort from this author-
ity, certainly none that justifies us in laying aside our
armor or stacking our arms. The hopefulness of the out-
look arises from the fact that the area yet to conquer
narrows, the line of struggle shortens, the intrenchments

544 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

of opponents weaken and diminish. This fact is due, not
simply to the persistent courage of women, not to their
tireless importunities, but to many causes inherent in the
increasing complexity of our civilization. Society being an
organization, it experiences all the expansions and transfor-
mations of any cell or egg. There is a time in the history
of an egg when the limitation of the shell is a protection
to the homogeneous, inchoate substance within ; but differ-
entiations beginning in this life substance, functions being
specialized, and the whole individualized, that which was
protection becomes imprisonment. The organism wrenches
and struggles, the walls gradually yield, and the organism
walks forth into the light and responsibility of freedom. If
the beak of the hatched eagle could speak for itself, it
would claim that the weakening of its prison-walls was due
to its own persistent knocking and battering ; and the wing
and talon would put in a similar claim of merit for them-
selves. But it was the increasing complexity of the entire
organism, the one differentiating life within, that compelled
the beak to knock, the talon to scratch, and the wing to
push and struggle.

There is a seed in Southern California (I think it is a
variety of clover) that if it had consciousness would surely
claim that it planted itself. It lies upon the surface of the
packed soil during the dry season, but when the rain of
winter comes it takes a notion to bore a little depression in
the softened earth and put forth roots. "Behold my
efficiency,** it might well say. "Yet mine made yours
available," the rain might reply. But the incubating
genius of life brooding over mountain, cailon, and mesa
could say, " I am the awakener and supply of all your
forces." A like interdependence of progressive forces per-
meates the entire structure of modern society. Simulta-
neous transformations, seemingly foreign to each other, are
occurring in the body politic, the genius of evolution burn-
ing at its center, having the providence to initiate all normal
expansion in radii, thus preserving the equilibrium of

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 645

growth. Impartially breathing her quickenings through-
out the entire structure, she thereby secures balance with
movement, and links progress to order. A long-headed
deviser does this genius of evolution prove herself to be, in
that she puts in the heart of each separate reform a feeling
that the true welfare of society depends almost wholly on
its own special success. It is this feeling which secures the
most remarkable concentration of effort, and leads each
reform to battle victoriously, step by step, with the obstacles
of progress. In, the vantage-ground of industrial emanci-
pation which woman has already gained, I would in no wise
divest her of the feeling of the superimportance of the
woman cause. For I believe Spencer affirms it is feeling
and not opinion that moves the world. But I speak rather
to establish scientifically and philosophically in woman's
comprehension the fact that her special movement has the
backing of the universal movement ; that the divine mania
which has taken possession of her for culture, independence,
complete freedom, and full responsibility holds even cosmic
relations. Woman will not abate her zeal, but give larger
possession to the ideas which compel her to do battle for
them, when she understands that they emanate not from
woman in the interest of woman, but from the one life in
the interest of life. This is the true basis of our faith, the
genuine ** substance of things hoped for." " Attractions are
proportioned to destinies.'* The line of movement is for-
ward and upward, and the destiny of the woman is above,
not below, the present outlook. It is the inevitable. The
urgent fire in the woman-soul, forever impelling her to
larger enterprise and venture in every department of
human action, that leads a Mrs. Sheldon into the heart of
Africa, is the Pentecostal flame of this same destiny. It is
well to keep in remembrance the interrelation of the entire
output of social reforms to which I have referred, and the
fact that the permanent success of each and all of them
depends upon this relationship. It is not difl&cult to per-
ceive that the woman cause is allied to temperance reform.

546 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

It requires closer scrutiny to perceive its relation to tariff,
ballot, and tax reform, to government ownership of rail-
ways, and a financial system less open to individual and
class manipulation. Nevertheless the fact is there; for
woman being industrially emancipated, a recognized inde-
pendent factor in the production of a nation's wealth, every
reform that affects the production and distribution of that
wealth touches the woman cause. After this manner and
direction has been the movement of freedom for any class
or people from the beginning.

The interrelationship of .all economic factors to which I
have referred always reveals itself along the lines of justice
and injustice. For example, it is preeminently a matter of
equity that woman should receive equal wages with man
for like quantity and quality of work. When this is with-
held the standard of wages which working-men combine to
maintain in their own interest inevitably lowers. There is
no real security for man's good fortune except through
equity to woman. The want of this has really been the
source of all his woes. For the race is one, and " a house
divided against itself shall not stand." Observe the social
scourges that follow in the train of the unequal wage. How
it bears direct relation to the dark problem of poverty, and
how that darkness widens and merges into the sloughs and
slums of immorality! How it broadens the margin of
unemployed men who constitute the industrial reserve
which enables capital to dictate its own terms to labor!
How it compels the latter to array itself against its own
kith and kin and do battle for its enemies ! How it necessi-
tates in the names of sympathy and pity the effort and
expense of organized charities to eke out the earnings
which are either not sufficient for maintenance or not suffi-
cient to meet the exigencies of misfortune! Surely a
knowledge of the one fact that the average yearly income
of the working-woman of Boston exceeds her yearly
expenses for positive needs only about eight dollars might
well fill the consciousness of every man who is normally

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 547

bright and apprehensive with a sense of impending doom.
Yet this is but one illustration of the evils which follow a
special line of injustice, afflicting the wrong-doer even
more than it does the wronged. And were we to follow
out all the social iniquities in which woman has been
involved, we should surely find that there is a certain point
in these entanglements where the same disastrous lesson
and result for man is revealed.

" Every benefactor," says Emerson, ** becomes a malefactor
by continuation of his activity in places where it is not due."
From the hour when woman was sufficiently awakened
through intellectual quickening to board deliberately the
car of progress, every obstacle that man puts in the way of
her advance reveals him as a malefactor ; that is, a train-
wrecker. All the constabulary of the universe are after
him, and the law of equity or equilibrium has dealt and
will deal out punishment to him proportionate to his crime.

Yet what better evidence can there be of a concession
and recognition on the part of man, which must ultimate in
the fulfillment of our largest hope, than the place so cor-
dially assigned to women in this Columbian Exposition?
It is no less than a world-wide announcement of her coming
on in every form of art, literature, and industry. No nig-
gardly dole is this to us, but the greatest privilege of all
history, dating in myriad forms of art and mechanical skill,
the fullness of time for woman's economic d^but. Permit
me to direct your attention to the wonderful significance of
this sentence, ** the fullness of time." There is no sentence
in all Scripture so crowded with philosophic meaning. It
solves for us the vexing problem of delay and procrastina-
tion which seemingly attends woman's advancement. If
hope deferred has heretofore made the heart grow sick,
this sentence from henceforward should preserve us from
all such abnormal lapses. We must learn and remember
that nature delights in appropriateness, and will have all
things in keeping. She will not vary one hair\s-breadth
from this principle, though humanity, frantic with desire

648 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and wild with importunity, should go down on its knees to
her. As a woman of good taste will seek to have the
details of her costume present that equalness of grade
and quality which establishes harmony and unity of value,
so nature, with faultless and exquisite judgment, arranges
in like manner her evolutionary series through all the
realms of matter and mind, proceeding always from the
simple to the complex, from sameness to variety, from the
coarse to the fine, from the crude to the finished. And
though an aeon should be necessary to each grade in the
series, yet shall the details of this grade be held in perfect
relation and keeping. For nature is congruous, whatever
else she may be. There is due preparation for the proper
advent of her successive creations or becomings, each of
which waits on her fullness of time, and the longer the
period of preparation the higher the outcome ranks in the
scale of her series.

Who can guess how long vegetable life waited on chaos,
and the perturbations of protoplasm, before cosmic propriety
permitted the first lichen to drape the earth's nudity ? How
long did the vegetable kingdom creepingly unfold as the
expression of organic life before it was appropriate for the
world to put in an appearance and accept all that had pre-
ceded as a gratuitous offering to the animal economy?
How long before man ** capped the climax of the vertebrate
series in mathematical concurrence with the fullness of
time ? " And if at the era of his appearance on this planet
he possessed even tolerably good sense and understanding,
he must have congratulated himself on the minutiae and
perfecting of detail which delayed his coming. For it is
ever the last result which utilizes preceding effects.

And for woman the logic of events has transformed
obstacle and hindrance into those necessary equipments of
character which belong not to partial but to complete citi-
zenship. What does this equipment for the responsibilities
of complete citizenship indicate ? It is no superfluous trick
of historic evolution. Desired or dreaded, woman is pro-

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 549

ceeding straight to the inevitable goal of largest social and
political responsibility. We might as well endeavor to avert
the fact that we were born as this fact ; and we are under
equal necessity to utilize resignedly these two facts. Indus-
trial emancipation broadens by an inevitable principle into
social and political equality ; and as the combined forces of
the stone, iron, press, and steam ages were engaged in
shaping and molding civilization into fitness for woman's
economic co5peration, so the genius of religion and govern-
ment far back in the mist of ages began the preparatory
work for her ultimate d^but as the full complement of man.
In connection and parallel with the changes in religious
and moral ideas, which antedated woman's advent as an
economic factor, are the transformations which have
occurred in forms of government and social institutions.
A beast of prey, the primitive man rose to nomadic forms
of society, patriarchs gave place to kings and emperors, and
these in turn to constitutional monarchy, and this to the
democratic idea and the rights of man. The bloody track
of governmental evolution, conspicuous with the panoply
of war, was built upon fallen thrones and devastated dynas-
ties, the patriotic sentiment broadening in the red struggle
from the family to the nation. And woman waited. Not
yet the fullness of time for her awakening to the world's
need of her citizenship. Something more of brute crudity
must be eliminated from the tumultuous powers of civiliza-
tion. Some larger and more sympathetic conception of
human life and its universal relations must modify the
world's ferment ere woman would arise from her world-old
hypnotic trance, with a new consciousness of her individual
ability and power, and the necessity of her taking an equal
hand with man in working out a universal order. The
ages had thundered from date of chaos, and she had not
wakened. But there came a noiseless white-winged thought
into the human atmosphere, and woman rose, and stood
upon her feet, and knew herself and the world s need.
And this was the white-winged thought which refined the

550 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

way for her feet : ** There is but one life, and humanity is
its spiritual image." As the genius of the spring-time sets
all the forces of nature in sweetest passion for expression, so
does this truth — the spiritual unity of the race — quicken
the hearts of men and women into a mania to make the
material interests of the entire humanity correspond in
their unity to this spiritual fact. To a no less work than
this is woman called and awakened : to convert discord into
harmony, rivalry into emulation, jealousy into magnanimity,
competition into cooperation, poverty into comfort, and the
love of money into the love of man. Need I say that such
transformation of the motives of human action, slow, silent,
invisible, must sooner or later work out a system of society
and government in which each shall stand for all and all
for each ? It is only a question of time. The century plant,
that waits a hundred years for its life's perfection, is no less
sure of its final glory than the convolvulus that greets the
dawn with expanded petals.

There is no uncertainty in the eternal goodness, and
woman's inevitable advance into all the lines of free citizen-
ship is but a part of the ** divine event to which the whole
creation moves."

THE DISCUSSION WAS INTRODUCED BY A PAPER SENT BY
LINA MORGENSTERN OF GERMANY.

I send you sisterly greeting over land and sea, and regpret
that I myself can not be present to be a witness of that
exalted moment when the women of all lands unite to form
an international bond of union. May this bond help to
overcome all prejudices of nations, races, and faiths ! May
it further the welfare of our sex, maintain and protect its
rights, and secure justice to it for the good of united
humanity! For the future of the human race lies in the
hands of women.

During the past year I have been engaged in compiling a

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 651

work called " Die Frauenarbeit in Deutschland," which will
give a complete survey of the position and activity of
women in all departments of domestic and social life, and
of the institutions already founded in Germany for the edu-
cation and training of women.

The accomplishment of the task which I had set before
me was even more difficult and comprehensive than I had
anticipated, the statistical aids and the material being
secured only with the greatest trouble. Nevertheless, since
I have been requested to give a report concerning the condi-
tion of women in my native land, I send you the first proof-
sheets of the book, which gives evidence not only that
woman is capable of working in all departments of industry,
but that it is a pressing necessity for her to acquire a calling
by which she can earn a livelihood, in order that she may
maintain her self-respect. In the light of these statistics is
seen also how little appropriate is the formerly universal
observation, " Woman belongs in the house, and her only
natural calling is to be housekeeper and mother.**

Aside from the fact that there are in Germany two mill-
ion seven hundred thousand more women than men who
are unmarried, and who thus do not come to fill the office of
housewife, statistics show that at least ten per cent of the
married women are compelled to work outside of the home
in order to support their families. There are in all two
million five hundred and thirty-four thousand nine hun-
dred and nine women who work outside of their homes, as
opposed to five million seven hundred and one thousand
five hundred and eighty-seven men workers ; and each year
shows an increase in the number of women engaged in
business of thirty-five per cent, against an increase in the
number of men of sixty-one per cent. Two million one
hundred and sixty-four thousand two hundred and four
self-sustaining women are engaged in domestic service, as
against one hundred and seventy-five thousand four hun-
dred and forty men.

According to the statistics of 1882, two hundred and

552 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

seventy-six thousand eight hundred and seventeen women
are engaged in independent farming. There are two mill-
ion two hundred and forty-eight thousand nine hundred
and nine women working as farm-helpers, of which num-
ber, nine hundred and twenty-two thousand eight hun-
dred and thirty-eight are members of the family, while
six hundred and nineteen thousand eight hundred and fifty*
eight are servants and seven hundred and six thousand
two hundred and thirteen day laborers.

In all the industries combined are found one million five
hundred and nine thousand one hundred and sixty-seven
women workers. They are distributed as follows :

Mining and building 54.522

Shopkeeping, trading, and restaurants I44i3 77

Clothing and laundry 551.301

Handelsgewerbe 184,537

Textilindustrie 362,138

Innkeeping 141.407

Cooking and catering 96,724

Paper-making 3I1256

Hardware and metal-working 27,660

Wood-carving 27,372

Comparative statistics show that the proportion of women
to men in the different industries gives the following per
cents :

Per cents.

Spinners 54 to 69

Weavers 22 to 39

Lacemakers and embroiderers .. 42

Crocheters, knitters, and lacemakers 84

Bleachers, dyers, and pressers 35

Bookbinders 25

Passementerie makers 56

Papermakers 35

Basket and mat makers 27

Cigarmakers 43

Gold and silver embroiderers 66

Penmakers 63

Makers of linen goods . 56

Noodle and macaroni makers 59

Employment agents 63

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 563

Per cents.

Market-gardeners i6

Peat-gatherers 23

Shell-workers 16

Shirtmakers 10

Polygraphists 13

In several industries the number of women workers pre-
ponderates even.

Married women employed in all factories, excepting the
spinning and brick-making industries, are as follows : In
Prussia, forty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-one ;
in Saxony, twenty-one thousand nine hundred ; in the re-
maining of the United States of Germany, thirty-nine thou-
sand one hundred and thirty-nine ; in Baden fifty per cent of
the workers are married women, and we find a still greater
number of married women, and especially widows, engaged
in housework and farming. In the last mentioned there
are two million seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand
eight hundred and thirty women to three million four hun-
dred and twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-
five men engaged. One-tenth of the entire number of
women in Germany are domestics.

In the liberal or higher callings two hundred and forty-
seven thousand and seventy-eight women earn a livelihood ;
these are distributed as follows :

Teachers and instructors 124,000

Physicians, medical assistants, and nurses 46, 1 77

Administrators and directors 23,522

Stewards 9,806

Church wardens and clerks 8,724

Musicians and actors 6,032

Civil and municipal officials 4.793

Authors 350

Railroad officials i ,302

Postal and telegraph clerks 1,012

The table of statistics on the pay of women workers which
I have given in my book, with special reference to the
advancement of the labor union, shows the domestic situa-
tion of all these women workers.

554 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

From these statistics appears the deplorable fact that the
work of women is paid from one-half to two-thirds less than
the work of men ; in the lowest class two marks a week and in
the highest ten marks. Pay differs in the different German
States, as the statistics of West Prussia and Silesia show.
In Berlin the highest wages are paid, but house-rent, taxes,
and living expenses are dearer. In the individual callings
women receive monthly salaries as high as one hundred
and fifty marks, for instance, as directors in laundries and
confectionery establishments, as bookkeepers, cashiers, and
photographers.

Compared with day wages received by men, the pay
of women is on an average half and two-thirds, and in
many cases three-fourths less. According to the province
the pay differs, for g^own women, from seventy-five
pfennig to two marks ; for girls under sixteen years, forty
to eighty pfennig — also one mark.

The condition of the women workers in the factories
leaves much to be desired, and justifies the organization of
women workers whose aim it is '* to secure like pay for like
work." Those women who are better situated are able to
devote themselves to the material elevation of the great
masses of their poorer wage-earning sisters through helpful
organization, and should do so.

THE DISCUSSION WAS CONTINUED THUS BY ELIZABET
KASELOWSKY OF GERMANY:

It is with g^eat pleasure that I comply with a request to
report on the Lette-Verein. I am proud to give you a brief
history of one of the oldest associations of German women ;
one of the best, I think ; one I know and love dearly, whose
secretary I have the honor to be. I pray for your indulg-
ence. I am a stranger in your country, and not accustomed
to your language, yet I hope to win your sympathy for an
undertaking worthy of being known everywhere. The

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 5f)5

American ladies are intelligent and strong ; they have not
to suffer as we do, or rather, let me say, as we did, from
social errors and prejudices of an older history. It has not
been long since German women, poor and with no one to pro-
tect them, thought it a disgrace to labor for money. Many a
fine talent withered slowly away, many a widow and elderly
girl led a miserable life because they feared to use the gifts
God gave them. Suffering in silence, they had no courage
to mend the evil.

It was in 1863 thaf Mr. Lette, president of the central
institution for the welfare of the laboring classes, wrote at
the head of its history : " For individuals as well as associa-
tions it is well to look back, to recognize their deeds and
efforts, to g^ve account of what they did and what they
wished to do." In such a review he remembered the poor
and helpless women, and proposed the founding of a new
institution in connection with the above-mentioned, which
should strive to open ways of labor to women in want. It
was the first time any one thought of those poor women,
who struggled so hard and did not know what to do or
where to go for employment or instruction. The proposi-
tion of this man, known for his benevolence and charity, a
friend of Schurz and Wesendonk, was most favorably
received by his hearers, and the best of them, men and
women, assembled to effect its realization. Even the
young Princess Victoria, now Empress Frederick, took
such a warm interest in the undertaking that she promised
to become the protectress of the new association, Zur For-
derung der Erwerbs-fdhigkeit des Weiblichen Gesc/i/ecAfSyWhich
she has remained to the present.

The first rule was that every prejudice in regard to
women earning money should be dropped ; that new indus-
trial and commercial schools should be founded and rela-
tions established between laborers and employers. It was
at a most unhappy time, when in 1866 the war between Aus-
tria and Prussia began, that the institute was opened by a
bazaar, called " Victoria Bazaar," at which all kinds of

o56 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

articles made by women were sold. Women brought paint-
ings, drawings, or fine needlework, embroideries of every
kind, which a committee appointed for the purpose sought
to sell. The bazaar was not merely temporary, but was
continued in a fixed locality rented for the purpose. The
eldest daughter of President Lette, Mrs. Annie Schepeler
Lette, a widow, became its president, which she is to-day.
The undertaking prospered in a most gratifying manner.
It was not to be regarded as a work of charity ; the articles
brought for sale stood business rivalry. A directress, pat-
tern-cutter, and bookkeeper were engaged, forty women
found employment in the establishment itself, and more
than a hundred have been enabled to sell the products of
their work.

Soon after she was married to Prince Frederick Wilhelm
of Prussia, the Princess Victoria founded a home for gov-
ernesses and young girls, . strangers in Berlin. This
home, called Victoria-Stift, needed reorganization, and the
crown princess wished that the bazaar before mentioned
should take care of it. Two stores were rented in Leip-
ziger Strasse, in the building in which the bazaar was
located. The home and bazaar were united, and nineteen
young g^rls found board and rooms. Its restaurant for
women is the first establishment of this kind in Berlin. In
a short time the institution was over-occupied ; an agency
and inquiry office, which rapidly became popular, was
opened. Here every sort of information was pven and
requests and offers were received and answered.

In the year 1868 President Lette, a most noble, unselfish,
unanimously beloved man, died, and in 1869, by prop-
osition of Professor von Holzendorf, chairman of the
institution, the name of it was changed to Lette- Verein,
association for the promotion of higher education of women
and of women's earning a livelihood. Wishing to honor the
name of Lette, the speaker said, ** Let us do the best we
can ; let us give an opportunity for a scientific and tech-
nical education.*' This proposition was unanimously

/

V

Harriet IE A. Keyser.
M. Louse McLalghlin.

AUGLSTA COOITR LUI^TCiL.

Ai-iiE M. Hart.

• • • •/ •

• • • • • •

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 557

accepted. At the same time a small capital was deposited
to furnish loans to those who wished to start in business.

The Lette-Verein was no longer the only institution of
this kind. In November, 1 869, meetings of different associa-
tions of women for education and industry were called.
I only mention the popular kitchens of Mrs. Morgen-
stem, the Victoria Lyceum, with its noble directress, Miss
Archer, the Academy of Female Painters and Friends of
Art, the Laborers' Union for learning and social entertain-
ment — all these and many others were founded on the same
principles. In autumn, 1872, the Lette-Verein settled in its
own home, Konigsgratzer Strasse, ninety ; the Victoria-Stift
had thirty-eight residents, and a matron who was as a mother
to the young girls. The commercial and drawing school,
comprising a large number of classes, occupied two stores.
Several halls were given to the ladies for restaurants. An
agency for the registering of pupils was opened, and books
were started to keep an account of the scholarship and
development of different classes. The opening ceremony
was honored by the presence of the Crown Prince Frederick
Wilhelm, and the Princess Victoria, our high protectress.
When the secretary, Miss Hirsen, had finished her report,
the prince said : " Did I understand you well ? You possess
eight thousand dollars ; you have borrowed twenty-five thou-
sand dollars ; you bought a house worth ninety-five thousand
dollars, and you say this as unconcernedly as if everjrthing
was right. How will you continue ? " " We don't know,'* she
answered, " but we trust ; the past gives us hope for the
future." " Your faith will help you," replied the prince, and
so it was. The words of our beloved emperor, who was him-
self so great a sufferer and so faithful a believer, were as a
prophecy.

Twenty-seven years have passed since the Lette-Verein
was founded. Its schools occupy three buildings ; its pupils,
now numbering fourteen hundred, come from every part of
the world, many of them from America and Australia. We
teach almost every branch of woman's industry — dress-

37

658 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

making, manual labor, millinery, fine needlework, sewing
by machine, cutting of linen, hair-dressing, ornamental draw-
ing, fabrication of artificial flowers, washing, ironing, cook-
ing, housekeeping, and bookkeeping. The course of study
is optional. Pupils may choose a single branch or a num-
ber of branches. Charges are small and the teachers of the
best. We seek to grant as much free instruction as possible.
Our pupils are not from the poorer classes alone, but from
the wealthiest families ; many a bride seeks here to perfect
herself in the art of housekeeping, that she may be able to
instruct her servants properly. The house resounds with
youth and gladness, and delight in work. Order and clean-
liness are strictly observed, and the relations between pupils
and teachers are most cordial. The certificates from the
commercial school enable our pupils to find good situa-
tions as bookkeepers, those in manual labor open to them
positions as teachers in manual training schools.

The agency and inquiry office in 1 892 supplied as many
as two thousand ladies with positions as teachers in scien-
tific and technical branches, as kindergartenerinnen, lady
companions, etc.

The institution last opened is a photographic school,
where young girls learn not only the art of photography, but
every kind of graphic reproduction, retouching, coloring, etc.

The Lette-Verein has grown until it has come to be one of
our largest institutions. Its means are small, but its presi-
dent and chairman, filled with a spirit of love, are working
bravely and fearlessly ; they try to recognize the needs of
the time, and of life, and are always willing to exchange the
good for the better.

Many similar institutions conducted on the same princi-
ples have been founded during the past years, and their
prosperity shows the usefulness of their existence. Many
tears have been dried, many eyes have grown brighter,
many a young heart has won new hope ; indeed, much has
been accomplished, and, gratified with our results, we
struggle on to mend the evils of the time.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 559

A New Avenue of Employment and Investment for
Business Women — Address by Juana A. Neal of
California.

While in 1836 only six occupations were open for
women bread-winners, viz., teaching, millinery, sewing,
tailoring, factory labor, and domestic service, now over
three hundred are open, and women are successful in all
these, with new avenues opening every day. Women
entered four hundred applications for patents last year.
Women are everywhere, in colleges, banks, stores, and
counting-houses, as clerks and capitalists, managing with
distinguished success both small and large affairs.

An avenue which has only recently been open to women,
and which promises to her wonderful opportunity, is life
insurance, which appeals to women as strongly as to men.
Leading companies are among the greatest institutions of
finance in the world. Thirty companies possess assets of
over nine hundred and three million seven hundred and
thirty-four thousand five hundred and thirty^even dollars,
and their total income for 1892 was two hundred and thirty-
two million twenty-four thousand nine hundred and ninety-
three dollars. The number of policies in force in these
thirty companies is one million five hundred and thirty-two
thousand eight hundred and twelve ; of these policies the
number carried by women is estimated at only seventeen
thousand. Policy holders were paid in 1 892 one hundred and
two million six hundred and twenty-one thousand eight
hundred and twenty-one dollars, and in the last fifty years
one billion five hundred million dollars has been paid to
beneficiaries. This provision when realized by women
must appeal peculiarly to them. What homes this has
kept unbroken! We must acknowledge life insurance to
be a safety-bridge that even death can not break.

The largest insurance carried by a woman in the United
States is four hundred thousand dollars, one hundred thou-

560 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

sand dollars being taken for charity. Several women cany
two hundred thousand dollars each, and a number, one hun-
dred thousand dollars ; many carry from seventy-five thou-
sand dollars to fifty thousand dollars, and great numbers
carry policies to the amount of five thousand, ten thousand,
and twenty thousand dollars.

The same appeals come to women as to men for protec-
tion, investment, annuities, and guaranteed incomes. In
many cases the reasons hold even more strongly, because
women are more timid and less confident, from lack of
experience in manipulating money, hence absolute securi-
ties appeal more strongly to them.

The wives of to-day are the widows of to-morrow, and a
few hours make one the head of the family with sudden
responsibilities and moneyed interests. In New York City
alone women control five hundred million dollars in money
and property. For years women were not recognized as de-
sirable " risks," and only recently have they been permitted
by companies to carry large amounts. Now the maximum
of one hundred thousand dollars, in the three large com-
panies writing that amount, can be carried by women.

Hitherto women have been sought only in special cases,
the majority of women knowing nothing of its benefits and
provisions as applicable to themselves. It must occur to
the thinking woman that financial investment held in such
esteem by business men is well worth investigation. Inves-
tigation will dispel prejudice and doubt. The same business
principles which apply to men apply equally to women. If
policies of one thousand dollars and upward were carried
universally by working-women, seeds of thrift and foresight
would be sown among a vast part of the population that
now accumulates nothing. An investment of from twenty-
five to forty dollars a year, according to age, would carry
one thousand dollars, and could be afforded by the earners
of even low wages. This would give a sense of security, and
would provide in case of sickness better care, which could
be paid in any case, whether health returned or death

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 561

ensued. Such insurance would also secure the return in
cash of moneys paid out, with added dividends at the end of
ten, fifteen, or twenty years, according to contract.

All insurance companies, recognizing the great possibili-
ties for the future in insuring women, are seeking to
engage women as insurance agents, believing that a woman
can approach people and work in this special field as no man
can do. Insurance companies give women as agents every
liberty accorded to men — of writing men as well as women.

The first women engaged as insurance agents have found
that pioneer work in this business, as in all others, is beset
by difficulties, but the success which women have met in
the business of insurance has opened a new and lucrative
industry to them.

The Bohemian Woman as a Factor in Industry and
Economy — Address by Karla Machova of Bohemia.

From time immemorial woman has controlled industry
and economy in the home, but it is not long since she
stepped from the home circle into the wider field of manu-
factures and public economy. The life of the woman of
to-day varies greatly from that of the primitive woman
protected and supported by husband or father. The work
of woman has undergone a transformation. The people
have not noticed this great change, they have grown accus-
tomed to it ; for day by day it is taking place before their
very eyes, and is therefore becoming a necessity. This
transformation has simplified the work of woman in the
home. In this age of cheap mechanical manufacture it is
unnecessary for women to make their own candles, soap,
cloth, and bread, as their great-grandmothers were obliged
to do. It no longer requires many women to perform the
duties of one household. The social revolution has been
and is being evoked by the strife for existence in which
both married and unmarried women must take part. If

662 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

woman is to conquer in the strife she must use all her
mental and physical energy.

The development of manufactures and private economy
necessitates a woman's supporting herself and her family,
for a man who is a day laborer is unable to do it alone. It
has made woman's position in the strife for existence in a
certain degree characteristic. The question of woman's
higher education is morally important ; equally important,
however, is the question of the position which woman shall
occupy in the field of labor.

Not only the revolution in manufactures, but her intense
desire for independence, has greatly modified woman's con-
dition. These influences have been so powerful that woman
has occupied an ever-growing department of industry.

Statistics clearly show that there is not a branch of
industry in which women are not employed. Besides the
reasons for this stated above we must take also into consid-
eration the technical perfection of machinery which makes
great skill in the workman unnecessary. Manufacturing
has thus become a mechanical operation easily performed
by women.

In Bohemia there are one hundred and thirty-three
thousand women, seven thousand and seventy-nine girls
employed in factories ; three and one-half millions in the
Empire of Austria.

During 1 890 there were in Prague and vicinity :

934 women at 139 gulden a year employed in book-binderies.

•* *' •* millinery establishments.

•* " •• paper factories.

•* printing establishments.

" '* •* laundries.

'* ** •• working factories.

'* '* '* powder-mills.

'* *• •* confectioneries.

•* ** •• brick-kilns.

•* •* *' shoe factories.

*• ** •* tailor-shops.

** " " leather factories.

** '• as waitresses.

79

138

400 ** 156

559

* 180

600

136

479

173

186

159

60

140

40

165

80

175

70

180

28

165

524

180

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 563

Judging from these statistics we see that women are
more and more employed in commerce and manufactories ;
but they are paid so little for their twelve hours* labor
that they can not earn even a meager livelihood. Such
wages, and often less, are paid throughout Bohemia,
Austria, yea, even Europe. A woman working twelve
hours in the field earns thirty-five kreutzers a day, if provi-
dence be kind and the day pleasant, for every rainy hour is
deducted from her small earnings. These women are em-
ployed only five or six months of the year for thirty or forty
kreutzers per day. Glove-makers are paid sixty kreutzers per
dozen, and they must furnish their own silk and machine.
Women are paid fifteen kreutzers for thirty-six buttonholes,
thirty-six, forty, or at most sixty kreutzers for making a dozen
shirts. Women occupy a very unfortunate position in
manufactures, for more than seventy per cent are paid
wretchedly. They are so easily imposed upon that manu-
facturers prefer to employ them. A further reason for the
increase of woman's labor is the system of competition exist-
ing among manufacturers. Women are accustomed to
doing their housework after working hours, and they are
prevented, not only in Bohemia but in all Europe, from
taking an active part in public affairs, and for that reason
they lack organizing ability, and unorganized they are
defenseless, and employers can treat and pay them as they
choose.

Woman's work in the home being underestimated by
men. she is paid less for labor done outside of the home.
It is not to be wondered at that men look with ill-favor upon
the employment of women, whom they consider rivals, since
the work of the latter, being cheaper, if of equal quality, is
given the preference everywhere. Here we encounter a
problem. How can this underestimation of the value of
woman's labor be prevented ? The problem can be solved
easily by moral suasion when public opinion strives to
influence the speculator and manufactjirer to increase
wages according to quantity and quality of labor performed.

564 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

SO that they can no longer profit by the weakness of
woman (or by the slight demands of women). If woman is
forced to fight a hard fight for her daily bread, it is the
duty of all to lighten her burden. Society must become
interested, aroused; it must endeavor to have working
hours lessened so that woman may have an opportunity to
educate herself and to regain physical strength, so that
she can live the life of a human being.

These questions of wages and shorter hours involve
employers as well as employes. Women laborers through-
out Bohemia and Europe should demand that women be
employed as their overseers, for women, as more sensitive,
more finely organized, require gentler treatment than men.

Apart from the branches of industry already mentioned,
women employed as field laborers merit special attention ;
their condition is deplorable. These women wander about
from place to place in search of employment. From
spring until autumn they must do without the comforts of
a home, the pleasures of home ties. The wealthy land-
owners impose upon these poor unfortunates, let them do
thirteen or fourteen hours of hard work gathering sugar-
beets, pay them from two to three gulden a week, and
lodge them in so-called barracks.

These women must work even on the Sabbath-day, for
in these places the commandment, " Remember the Sab-
bath-day to keep it holy," is not observed. One can con-
ceive how alarmingly all desire for home life disappears.

A pitiful life is led by women in restaurants and caf&,
where they often receive no remuneration whatever for
twelve, or even fifteen, hours of work, and are dependent
entirely upon the fees of the guests. In the world-famed
Karlsbad and Franzenbad waitresses must pay hotel-
keepers, who are millionaires, one gulden and twenty
kreutzers for the probability of breaking dishes.

I could mention many other employments in which men
profit by underpaying women. One thing is evident;
women are ruining themselves physically, especially moth-

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 565

ers deprived of the necessities of life, for, according to sta-
tistics in Bohemia, one child out of thirty-six is still-bom.
Some people claim that women do not wish to return to the
idyllic family hearth. Let such help to make it possible
for women to return, and they will find but a small per
cent remaining aloof from it. It is not woman herself who
destroys family life, it is society; it is the employer's
unscrupulous thirst for gain ; this is the scourge that drives
woman from the home out into the battle of life. Therefore
it is the duty of every thoughtful member of society to make
an eflFort to improve, materially and spiritually, the wretched
condition of women laborers. Woman can reach a higher
social status only when she ceases to be an automaton.
When her labor in the home is justly valued and paid, only
then will she cease to be man's competitor and become his
companion.

The Contribution of Women to the Applied Arts—
Address by Florence Elizabeth Cory of New
York.

Seventeen years ago, at the close of the Centennial Expo-
sition in Philadelphia, there was no practical woman
designer for any industrial manufacturing purpose. There
were women in England, Scotland, France, Belgium, and
America who assisted male designers, and who occasionally
put ideas on paper — as suggestions merely, as to what
:night be pleasing for wall-papers, textiles, jewelry, and
dainty novelties. These drawings, however, were not prac-
tical working-designs, and could not be manufactured from
directly, but were simply sketches which had to be re-
drawn and recolored by a practical man before they could
be either woven or printed.

To-day there are in America alone hundreds of women
who have learned, or are learning, the arts of practical,
applied, industrial designs — women whose work can be

566 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

carried to the printing-drum or Jacquard loom and be
manufactured from at once, without the intervention of a
practical man. Unskilled labor and incompetent workmen
have been the bane of the manufacturer, who has found it
necessary to send abroad for designs made by skilled
artists. There is no reason why the American woman
should not prepare to retain some — if not all — of the
remuneration now awarded the foreign designer. The
field of industrial art is most interesting to women, and
they certainly are possessed of a refined taste, a quick per-
ception of color and form, delicacy of touch, originality of-
ideas, a sense of the fitness of things, and the patience neces-
sary to work out their ideas, provided they know the
mechanical requirements, and the proper way to set forth
these ideas on paper.

A few of the results already achieved by American
women in the applied arts may be summed up as follows :
Women have designed successfully for jewelry, lace, book-
covers, stained-glass, oil-cloths, carpets of all grades, rugs,
wall-paper, silks, table-linen, dress-goods, ribbons, handker-
chief-borders, and many other things. Miss Emma Hum-
phreys of Delaware, Ohio, for the past few years has sup-
ported herself easily by making designs for wall-papers and
printed silks. Miss Carrie Smith of Smithville, L. L, has
for the past seven or eight years secured an ample liveli-
hood by designing rugs. Miss Elsa Bente of New York
is employed by the Tapestry Brussels Company to make
designs for woven silks. Miss Clara Woolley of Wilkes-
barre. Pa., earned in ten weeks over five hundred dollars
on wall-paper designs. Miss Mary A. Williamson of Indian-
apolis, Ind., designed the brocades for the inaugural robes of
Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. McKee. Miss Ina BuUis of Troy,
and Miss Mary Gazgam of Utica, N. Y., are employed by
two of our largest and best-known wall-paper manufact-
urers. Miss Ama Malkin is employed in the designing room
of Messrs. Cheney Bros, silk-mill of South Manchester,
Conn. Miss Alice Laus is employed in a silk designing room

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 567

of Paterson, N. J. Miss CeliaCraus of Bath, N. Y., is in the
designing room of Hilton & Hughes (the old A. T. Stewart
carpet factory). These few examples will serve to show
that the position of women in the applied arts is no longer
problematical, but an assured fact ; that they can and do
succeed as designers is a certainty, provided their instruc-
tion is practical, not theoretical.

As to the payment received by women for their designs, it
is quite as high as that received by men for the same grade
of work; and best of all, there is a steadily increasing
demand for it. New factories are constantly springing
up, old factories are enlarging their plants ; each man is the
rival of the other, and tries to produce the greatest variety
of goods twice a year. American women have also designed
for foreign manufacturers. The pupils of the School of
Industrial Art and Technical Design for Women have
designed ingrain carpets for Leeds and York, England,
china for Carlsbad, Austria, toweling and table-linen for
Dundee, Scotland, and embroidery and matting for Japan.
Therefore let the would-be designer learn how to apply the
principles of design practically, as well as artistically, let
the originator herself be a practical designer, and thus
secure independence.

DISCUSSION OF THE ABOVE SUBJECT WAS INTRODUCED BY
EMILY SARTAIN OF PENNSYLVANIA AS FOLLOWS:

It is currently asserted that the goodly city of Philadel-
phia, whose art I have the honor to represent to-day, is
very slow, but I must claim for her the credit of having
founded — fifty years ago — the first school of practical
design for women. She already had founded the first
American academy of fine arts, enriched by donations of
casts from Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French ;
had established the first illustrated magazines, those far-fly-
ing messengers bearing art education to widely scattered

668 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

firesides ; and also the first theater, that potent educator for
good and for evil ; while in the library founded by Benja-
min Franklin, for the first time in the world, the idea of
the circulating library was illustrated.

In these days of revived reminiscences of our Centennial
Exhibition these words are surely not out of place.

With all the increased facilities for women's industrial
art education offered to-day in so many well-equipped insti-
tutions, let us not be ungrateful to that noble woman,
daughter of a governor of Ohio, daughter-in-law of a minister
to England, who, a long half-century ago, divined the im-
portance of opening this career for women, and whose
work is still continued.

Art, applied or pictorial, is a plant of slow growth, and
does not reach maturity outright. Mrs. Peter originated
in the United States the movement to bring the taste of
women, and their inherent love of color and grace of line,
into touch with commercial demand through a thorough
training in practical design, a movement which was fol-
lowed within a few years in New York, Boston, and Balti-
more. That peculiar disease of the eye called color-blind-
ness exists among the sterner sex in the fixed proportion
of four to five in the hundred, while among women the
ratio is so small as not to amount to a percentage, it being
only three or four in the thousand ; so in this reunion to
report progress it is natural that we should have to note
great development in the applied arts, where sensitiveness
to color is an essential. I do not narrow the term applied
arts to mean alone those industrial arts which need a ma-
chine to translate and to embody the brain's conception,
great as has been the progress in those branches.

In the Woman's Building, in the women's rooms of the
Illinois and the Pennsylvania State buildings, you will see
stained-glass windows, employing the latest resources of
the art on its practical side to heighten the effect of color
and tone qualities ; mural decorations showing the impulse
of the most recent movement in art thought, which started

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 669

with the story of St. Genevieve on the walls of the Pan-
theon ; embroidered portiferes, which are full-chorded sym-
phonies of color, the complementary and contrasting tones
of warm and cool hues, giving the base and treble clef in
the shortened scale of light and black. In engraving, both
on wood and steel, in etching, in book illustration many
women are now doing work of the highest class ; and at
least one woman architect, Minerva Parker Nichols, is
changing the aspect of her city's streets with her many
creations in brick and in stone, while Miss Hayden's beauti-
ful building before our eyes here speaks for itself.

So many women have so long been doing first-class work
in the applied arts that I think a young woman who is
thoroughly equipped finds little discrimination against her
sex ; in fact, she perhaps obtains readier acceptance than her
brother. For myself I may say that during many years of a
successful business career as an engraver, my capability
being once proven, my womanhood has been in nowise a
disability among business men ; chivalry even taking the
form of prompt pa3rment. Twice my father and brother have
lost large amounts through the failure of publishers who had
settled up my equally large accounts in full, and the only
time I ever lost a bill was once when my engraved portrait
of a man's wife did not portray her as handsome as she
appeared in his eyes.

But many of the pioneers among our professional women
were less fortunate, and carried graven on their faces the
lines of nerve-tire and harassment, revolt against the
trammels of destiny, and protest against the derision and
skepticism of environing conservatism. The skepticism
was sometimes justified by want of thoroughness ; the fault
not of the woman, but the racial fault of this new nation
whose tense nervous organization responds readily in the
all-accomplishing " spurt," and often fails to apppreciate the
dogged, steady, persistent pull upon the collar possible
only to the certitude and mastery of thorough training. But
now that the solid phalanx of competent professional wage-

670 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

earners has closed in about these leaders, who are no longer
exceptional women to be stared at, their countenances are
relaxed, the trade-mark of aggressiveness is gone, and the
** becoming" is studied, the evidence of the photographic
pass to the Exposition to the contrary notwithstanding.
We have now in hand to-day*s most powerful business
lever, cooperation, and with our joint-stock companies of
women building women's club-houses and temples, we have
our firms of associated artists ready to cooperate with our
architects in making a house beautiful.

It is one of the elements of the progress of the last seven-
teen years that women do now join together, and are gaining
an esprit du corps. In the Woman's Building of the Centen-
nial, the names of the finest women artists were conspicuous
by their absence ; but those same women have contributed of
their best toward the Woman's Building of to-day's Exposi-
tion. I speak with knowledge, for I gave hard service in
the art collection of the Centennial.

The most important art lesson of the Centennial, and of
the exquisitely beautiful buildings in which this Columbian
Exposition is housed is addressed not so much to the artist
and to the art student as it is to the public. It is you, the great
public, who need instruction in art, that you may know
what is really fine. Our women decorators and designers,
sculptors and architects are ready to do good work for you.
As you ask for more harmonious coloring in your homes,
purer styles, appropriate construction in building and orna-
ment, you will appreciate understandingly how much they
have accomplished, and stimulate them to still higher
attainment. Have faith in them, not the credulity which
prostrates itself before false gods, but a discerning faith ;
and as you ask, so shall you receive.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 671

THE DISCUSSION WAS CONTINUED BY M. B. ALLING OF NEW
YORK IN THE FOLLOWING PAPER ON THE INFLUENCE
OF WOMAN IN CERAMIC ART, READ BY MISS NELLIE
MORRIS OF OREGON :

Charles Elliot says, "A correct knowledge of it may
now almost be called a liberal education."

From it we learn the domestic habits, the public amuse-
ments, and the methods of honoring the dead of nations
that have long passed out of existence.

If the remains of Roman pottery had not been found it
would be impossible definitely to establish the boundaries
of the ancient Roman Empire ; this is true also of the Mo-
hammedan and Aztec empires. History is therefore
greatly indebted to ceramic art.

" There exists at Athens a feeling of devout admiration,
and perhaps gratitude, for the ancient art of the potter."

The portions of Athens occupied by the shops of the pot-
ter and painter were the first school of taste, the primitive
sanctuary, where abstract form, unceasingly elaborated and
studied under the eyes of an inquisitive and free people,
was revealed to the first architects. It is the ceramic art
that inspired the authors of those antique structures which,
renewed at a later date with the marbles of Mount Pentel-
icus, became temples worthy of the gods to whom they were
dedicated. Ceramic art and architecture are closely united.

This art has always been an object of interest to royal
personages and historical characters. Among celebrated
women we find the names of Helene de Hangest, to whose
auspices is due the famous Henri-Deux ware ; Catherine de
Medici, Marie Theresa, Elizabeth, and Catherine II., to
whom Russia owes the establishment of her ceramic art;
Madame Pompadour, who by her influence brought the
porcelain of Sfevres to perfection and Queen Charlotte of
England, under whose patronage Wedgewood brought out
his earthenware.

672 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

I am told that at this Congress there will be a greater
number of representative women than at any other to be held
during the season of the Columbian Exposition. You are
interested in the advancement of " arts and all professions
and trades underlying the home." I wish to call your atten-
tion to the fact that there are in this country over twenty-
five thousand women of all classes who are engaged in
decorating wares. To many it furnishes a means of liveli-
hood, while others employ it only to beautify and decorate
their own homes.

The fact that work produced by factories or private dec-
orators, no matter how excellent, can not compete with im-
ported goods does not tend to improve the art. It has been
said that public opinion will do more than any other agency
to remove an existing evil. Where are the American
women of to-day who are willing to become allies of Amer-
ican ceramic art, handing down their names to history as
its patrons ?

Buy the best American goods; exhibit them to your
friends with pride. Courage and freshness in design
should always be recognized. The desire to buy cheap
goods will prove utter destruction to the art. Beautiful
forms and compositions are not to be made by chance, nor
at a small expense.

It depends entirely upon our American women whether
our country shall lead the world in this art. Would it not
be worth the while to see our wonderful clay beds devel-
oped, factories built, thousands of women finding in them
an honorable emplo3rment, and the enormous sums of money
that annually go to enrich foreigners flowing into our own
coflFers ?

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 673

THE DISCUSSION WAS CONCLUDED BY LUETTA E. BRAU-
MULLER OF NEW YORK, WHO READ THE FOLLOWING
PAPER ON ART IN CERAMICS.

Il is my object to show my hearers the distinction
between two very common terms employed in ceramic
art, viz., china painting and china decorating. It is gen-
erally believed that china painting is confined to the decora-
tion of cups, saucers, plates, and other articles of table-
ware, with vases, placques, jardiniferes, lamps, etc., as occa-
sional adjuncts, and that high art, in the general acceptance
of that term, is excluded from or is foreign to ceramic art.

I would at once state that china painting and china
decorating must be considered as two distinct branches of
the art, the first as high art aiming to attain the highest
possibilities, and the second as applied art, the same as any
other subservience of art to utility.

The artist who employs oil or water colors to illustrate
his conceptions has a meager appreciation of the capabili-
ties of mineral colors ; in plain words, his ignorance leads
him to form an erroneous opinion, and to influence the
opinion of others in the same direction.

One of the commonest charges made against ceramic art,
by the artist who styles himself one of the "legitimate
school," is that our artists must confine themselves to copy-
ing the works of the masters, and can not themselves create
a great work.

This general accusation no one, to my knowledge, has
ever attempted to substantiate, and probably no one ever
will. The technique of mineral coloring is the most diffi-
cult to master of all the various pigments employed by
artists, requiring not only a knowledge of color, experience
and skill in manipulation, but a thorough understanding
of the firing necessary to perfect the colors and make them
permanent. The firing of china might be termed a science,
and the assertion that not one of our artists, many of whom

88

674 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

have spent years in the study of true art, is capable of
creating a great picture because he chooses to perpetuate
his work in mineral coloring, is as absurd as it is false. In
proof, I would refer you to the biographies of some of the
greatest artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
who did not find it beneath their dignity to work wnth
mineral colors.

Madame Hortense Richards, a well-known Freuch painter,
an officer of the Academy and pupil of Bouguereau and
Jules Lefebre, is an enthusiastic china painter. Some of
her most noted works are on porcelain, and she has been
awarded twenty-three medals at as many exhibitions held
on the continent, in Great Britain, and Australia.

A favorite disparaging comparison made by painters in
other branches of art points out the relative sizes of the works
in oil and mineral colors. Paintings are neither valued nor
sold by the yard, but by merit alone. If any one believes
china painters are limited in this respect, I would refer her
to that magnificent painting now on exhibition in the
German department of the Manufactures Building at the
World's Fair, entitled '' The Triumph of German Art." Its
height is sixteen and one-half feet and its width ten feet.

True, it is not painted on a single piece of porcelain, but
the majority of the works of the old masters are painted on
a wood surface formed with narrow strips glued together,
and this painting is done on tiles skillfully joined to form a
perfectly smooth surface. There are several other large
paintings in the same exhibit, which are sufficient proof
that china painters are not confined to miniature works.

I will mention some superior qualities of mineral colors.
In purity, beauty, and brilliancy, no other colors can com-
pare with them ; and in figure painting, which is conceded
to be the highest style of art, the exquisite flesh tones
obtained with mineral colors are absolutely unrivaled. The
underlying glaze lends a transparency so characteristic in
life that figure painting on porcelain is undeniably the
highest degree of perfection attainable in art. Colors

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 575

which depict so faithfully the beauties of the human form
are not less adequate to copy the grandeurs of nature and
subjects of lesser importance.

A second quality of equal value is the durability of min-
eral colors. The same glorious tints that gladden the heart
and brighten our surroundings to-day may serve the same
purpose a thousand years hence. There is practically no
limit to the duration of porcelain and its decoration. Time
leaves no trace, and the elements are powerless to mar the
brilliancy of the glaze or dim the luster and beauty of the
coloring.

I will concede that the fragility of porcelains is to be
regretted, but they require far less care than other treasures,
such as jewels, laces, etc., and there are porcelains shown
at our great exposition to-day which, with ordinary care by
successive possessors, will no doubt endure unchangeable
when the existence of Chicago and its inhabitants will be a
circumstance of remote antiquity.

Since china decoration first attracted the attention of
American women it has become the most fascinating
emplo3mient, and in many instances the most lucrative
means of self-support to the higher classes of women.

Pottery in the Household — Address by M. Louise
McLaughlin of Ohio, Read by Katherine Westen-
DORF OF Ohiq.

Whether our sex can lay claim to the idea which resulted
in the addition of household utensils to the home of primi-
tive man, we do not know. The solution of that question
is forever lost in the mists of antiquity. We know only
that since prehistoric ages woman has figured largely as
the maker and decorator of the vessels in which the food
provided by her liege lord has been served. Now, when
her rights and privileges have been increased in a measure
undreamed of by her aboriginal predecessor, we find her

676 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Still the conserver, and happily frequently the producer, of
beauty in the household.

In the complication of modem life it is not given to
every woman to devote herself to the pleasing task of pro-
viding with her own hands, and at the same time rendering
beautiful, the household utensils. Let not the woman, how-
ever, who may be engaged in the practice of one of the
learned professions, or busy in the reformation of the
abuses which have become ingrained in the polish of this
old world, look down upon her sister upon whom has
descended the time-honored profession of her foremothers.
In our time many a woman finds in the decoration of pot-
tery, not only the gratification of her sense of beauty, but
also the wherewithal for the support of her family. While
from this point of view the practice of the art may be con-
sidered one of the lucrative occupations for women, it is
from that of the household that we are to regard it.
Viewed within the narrow circle of the home, the xnatter
assumes almost paramount importance. From its more
practical side, the ceramic art is seen to fill the necessity
which was probably the first to arise, in furnishing the most
satisfactory receptacle for food. In this capacity its impor-
tance in our households can scarcely be overestimated.
Whatever may be said of the abuses of the table — the
interference of high living with high thinking — the con-
sumption of food is a daily necessity, and no substitute by
which our civilized brains can be kept in good working
order has been found. No change in the good old custom
of families meeting around the common table has proved
desirable, nor is there anything so delightful as the assem-
bling of kindred spirits round the festal board.

Many refinements have been added since our forefathers
gathered around the primitive bowl in which the household
food was served, and helped themselves without other
utensils than those which nature had provided them.
Much of the grossness of the satisfaction of this natural
appetite has been taken away. How much, we who are

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. i)77

accustomed only to the manners of the latter part of the
nineteenth century can scarcely realize.

Shorn of its grosser aspects, bounded within the limits of
temperance and common sense, this appetite for food should
not be considered something which an intelligent being
can pass over without consideration. Upon its proper grat-
ification depends life itself, and during life the health of
body and mind. Considered in this light, the art of the
cook is the highest, and as an adjunct the ceramic art comes
not far behind. That the palatableness of food has an
actual influence upon its digestion and consequent benefit,
is a fact acknowledged by medical authorities. How much
of this benefit is derived from the tasteful serving of the
viands has not been computed, but the effect is some-
thing of which people of refined tastes are keenly conscious.
Good food served upon coarse and ugly dishes loses half
its savor. How much, then, does the art of cooking owe to
the beautiful china in which its products may be presented!
As a very essential aid in the serving of our daily food,
decorated china plays a very important part, and thus may
be considered a practically useful art.

Very early was the sense of beauty manifested in the
decoration of necessary utensils. We, following in the line
of what should be progress, are inclined sometimes so to
decorate these articles that the original use is lost sight of.
In this, to our shame be it said, we fall behind our aborig-
inal models, who in their simplicity never lost sight of the
fitness of things, and whose work consequently ranks high
in true artistic beauty. The principle which underlies all
good work — the abrogation of self — is applicable to this
branch of art as well as to all others. The questions which
must be answered by all decorative art are these. Is it suited
to its purpose? Does it really beautify the object upon
which it is applied ?

To the decoration of household pottery these questions
appeal with more 'than usual force. Here there is no room
for the exhibition of skill unless it is subordinated to use.

678 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

That is the all-important point of view, and from it all
personal display becomes impertinent. We have much to
learn upon this whole subject, but much has already been
accomplished. In the light of the present exposition of
woman's work it will be seen that a wonderful progress has
been made. We can not here enter into the question of
what constitutes the best decorative art, or what are the
best means of developing the talent which, as has been
demonstrated, woman has in her keeping.

Let us hope that the time will come when she will exer-
cise this talent, freed from the shackles of custom and
fashion ; the time when she will not tie ribbons on jugs,
paint pictures on plates, or transform her home into the
likeness of a bric-a-brac shop. To paraphrase a well-known
saying, let me decorate the homes of a people and I care
not who teaches them.

The Trades and Professions Underlying the Home^
Address by Alice M. Hart of Ireland.

In asking me to speak to-day before this great and won-
derful congress on the trades and professions underlying
the home, or in other words on home industries, I gratefully
recognize the graceful compliment that has been paid me
on account of my ten years' work in developing the home
industries of Ireland.

In Ireland the conditions of life are much the same as
they are in Saxony, Bohemia, and the Tyrol, but in these
countries a watchful and more sympathetic government has
encouraged home and hand industries, and helped to make
them a substantial means of support to the people, and it is
therefore from these countries that we have so much to
learn. It must be hard for you in America, where you have
large farms and a paucity of labor, to realize the condition
of things where there are small farms and an abundance of
labor. Yet this is the condition of labor which prevails in

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 579

certain parts of Italy, Bohemia, Saxony, and in what are
known as the congested or the poor districts of Ireland.
In these countries and districts where, as a rule, the farm is
too small to give the means of support to the whole family,
home industries become of inestimable value. It is sur-
prising to those who think that everything is made, and
best made, nowadays by machinery, to learn how large a
part in production hand-work still plays, and that notwith-
standing the amassing of capital and labor in large facto-
ries, home industries do still hold their own. Thus, in Ger-
many, in the Black Forest and Saxony ; in Austria, in the
Bohemian Mountains ; in Switzerland, in the Tyrol, and in
France, in the Vosges Mountain districts, large populations
are employed in their own homes in the making of toys,
dolls, and clocks, and in the manufacture of lace and pas-
sementerie, and in the weaving districts of Wurtemburg in
Germany, and in Lyons in France a large portion of the
finest work is still done in hand-looms in the cottages. The
advantages of home industries are many ; their disadvant-
ages are also patent to all. Among their advantages I may
claim those of living in the healthful country and the
preservation of family life ; among the disadvantages are,
the length of the hours of labor and the smallness of the
earnings ; but, as almost invariably where home industries
flourish the population is partly agricultural, and each
family has its little farm or flock to cultivate, the time not
spent in some hand industry would be idle, and the money
thus earned, though little, is supplementary to the earnings
made by farm labor. It may seem to you that one to two
dollars a week earned at lace-making or knitting is a miser-
able pittance, and that it would be far better to gather these
workers into factories, to multiply their power of produc-
tion a hundred-fold by machinery, and increase their wages
perhaps to ten dollars a week, but such a policy would
leave the agricultural populations without the means of
supplementary earnings, and agriculture would become
what it is in England, a forsaken industry, and the country

580 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

districts would become depopulated. As long as home
industries flourish the agricultural districts in the old coun-
tries of Europe remain thickly populated ; but also, so long
as hand industries are pursued by an agricultural popula-
tion as supplementary work the earnings, on an average
from one to three dollars a week, of such work will control
its market value, and consequently town-workers will find
that the same industries yield them a pittance on which
life in cities can not be supported. Thus the dollar or two
dollars earned weekly by the lace-girl living at home on her
father's farm, who gives a hand at the dairy or in the fields,
will help keep the family from want in the winter, or, if put
by, will give her a dower for her wedding-day ; but the
lace- worker earning the same wages in a city will be plunged
into the depths of poverty. Thus I advocate cultivating
home industries to the utmost in the country and in agri-
cultural districts, but carrying on such work in the cities in
shops and factories under proper supervision and correct
sanitary conditions. It would be impossible to consider the
whole subject of home industries in the short time at my
disposal, and as this congfress of women is called to report
the progress of women all over the world I think it would
be more interesting for you to hear what women have done
and what I myself have been privileged to do in encour-
aging home industries in Ireland, that distressful country
for which our sympathies are so constantly invoked.

Ireland is essentially an agricultural country. From
causes which I need not describe the people have been
driven back upon agriculture as their chief means of sup-
port, and from this fact arose that land hunger which
became on one side the motive of oppression and on the
other the mainspring of revolution. The people being
rooted in the soil, the cultivation of home industries among
them becomes a vital necessity. Women have been the
first to recognize this in Ireland, and to women and their
practical pity for the poor are due some of the most flour-
ishing industries in Ireland. As these stories of women's

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. oSl

work and pity are little known or have been forgotten, I
should like briefly to tell them. In the Woman's Building
at the World's Fair, in Lady Aberdeen's exhibit of cottage
industries in the Plaisance, and in our own Irish Village
when opened, there will be found beautiful examples of
Irish lace ; these laces are known as Carrickmacross, Lime-
rick, Yoghal, Innishmacsaint, and crochet. Each one of
these lace industries has been either founded or revived by
a woman's pity.

The Carrickmacross lace industry originated in 1820 in the
efforts made by Mrs. Gray Porter Anne Stedman to copy a
piece of Italian lace. Miss Reid of Rahns, near Carrickma-
cross, taught herself and her sister the new art, and subse-
quently established a school in which poor children were
taught lace-making as a means of supplementing the earn-
ings the family obtained from working the little farm. The
town of Carrickmacross is on the Bath and Shirley estate.
When twenty-five years later the g^eat famine was in the
land Mr. Tristam Kennedy became manager of the Bath
estate, and he was so much impressed by the benefit con-
ferred on the neighborhood by Miss Reid's lace school that
he raised a public fund and built several lace schools in and
around Carrickmacross. He subsequently secured a grsmt
of one hundred pounds from Parliament to teach drawing
and designing in his schools. Mr. Kennedy's schools and
the lace industry which sprang from them were of the
greatest help during the famine years. Many of them were
subsequently closed, but the central school at Carrickma-
cross is still in existence and does good work, owing to the
annual g^ant still paid it by government, and it has sent a
fine exhibit of lace to Chicago.

The Limerick lace industry owes its origin to an English-
man, Mr. Charles Walker, who, on marrying the daughter
of a lace manufacturer, determined to try to make a com-
mercial success of an industry which had at that time a most
feeble existence. He brought over twenty-four girls from
England as teachers, and in a short time a large amount of

582 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

good lace was being made in Ireland. During the famine
lace-making was one of the great resources of the. district^
and through an association of ladies who work hard to help
the poor in their distress, a considerable sale was obtained
for Limerick lace. This was at the time when lace fichus,
berthas, ruffles, and frills were much worn by ladies, both
young and old. The lace made at this period was very
fine — good in design and delicate in execution. After the
famine, when death and emigration had greatly diminished
the population of Ireland, and the desperate need of an
agricultural population for some extra earnings, however
small, had passed away, the Limerick lace industry declined ;
public interest in it was lost ; good designs were no longer
furnished the workers ; Limerick lace fell out of fashion ;
the industry was transferred to Belgium, and until a
few years ago only the coarsest kinds and the poorest
designs were made in Ireland; these were sold at very
low prices. This pretty old lace was in this degraded con-
dition when it was taken in hand about seven years ago by
Mrs. Vere O'Brien, the adopted daughter of the late W. E.
Foster, chief secretary for Ireland, who, on marrying an
Irish gentleman, the son of the late Smith O'Brien, and
settling near Limerick, opened a school to teach again the
making of the charming old lace of the district. Under
this kind and wise influence the industry has revived, and
at Mrs. Vere O'Brien's school are now produced the most
beautiful ran and tambour laces, fine in execution and
artistic in design.

Irish point owes its origin to the earnestness and ingenu-
ity of a nun in the convent at Yoghal, who was anxious, as all
good nuns of Ireland always have been and still are, to find
industrial employment for the children of her schools.
Chancing upon an old piece of Italian point she unpicked
it, studied the stitches of which it was composed, and repro-
duced them with success. She then determined to teach
some of the poor children who were in need of bread to
make point lace as a means of livelihood. She succeeded

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 583

SO well that the first specimens of Irish point were sold at a
high price. New point stitches were invented and designs
were improved, and, in a short time, owing to the devotion
of this good nun to her poor children, Irish point became
an established success. It is now made in many con-
vent schools, but that made at Kenmare, Kinsale, and
Yoghal is the best. Irish point also fell into a low condi-
tion, owing tb the poor designs and coarse thread used, but
of late years the lace committee at the South Kensington
Museum, the School of Design at Cork, and Mrs. Power
Lawlor have done excellent work in stimulating the pro-
duction of good lace designs and in aiding the workers and
teachers to obtain them, and consequently Yoghal point
has taken its position again as one of the finest laces made.

Away in the wild and desolate County of Donegal, in the
midst of Lough Erne, there is a holy island called Innish-
macsaint, to which the poor peasants of the district often
come on pilgrimage or to perform pennance. Extremely
poor the peasants of Donegal always are, but in 1846 their
condition was desolate. An old piece of Italian point ex-
cited the attention of Mrs. McLean, the wife of the rector
of the parish of Tynan, exactly as a similar relic had
attracted the nun at the convent of Yoghal. The old
piece of lace awoke in each lady similar trains of thought
and induced each to make the same effort to help the
starving children about her. This old piece of point was
unpicked, and the stitches of which it was composed dis-
covered, and Mrs. McLean began to teach the making of
Rose point to the girls of her parish. Private orders sus-
tained the school, and the earnings resulting were a great
boon to the people. This lace was, however, near extinction
when, about sixteen years ago, it was taken up by the late
Mr. Benlindsey of Dublin and reestablished as an industry.

A school at which reprodiictions of Greek and Italian
Reticella lace are made has been established by Mrs. Hall-
dare at Newtonbury ; the lace produced is admirable, and
nothing finer was made in Italy in the sixteenth century

684 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

than the Reticella turned out from Mrs. Halldare's school
in Ireland.

Irish crochet is known all over the world. About the
year 1836 it became fashionable in England, owing chiefly
to the pattern books published by Madame Del Riago, a
lady who was always deeply interested in promoting the
crochet industry in Ireland, who, when she died three or
four years ago, left her fortune to be devoted to the encour-
agement of lace schools in the south of Ireland. It was,
however, the great famine of 1846 which stimulated the
crochet industry, when, owing to the government grants, the
energetic action of the Netherland ladies, and the intelli-
gent industry of convent schools, crochet lace became the
chief hope of the people of County Cork, and gave an
immense amount of employment during a period of dire
distress. The nuns of the Ursuline Convent at Black Rock,
County Cork, had already begun to teach their scholars to
make crochet lace before the famine, and when the unhappy
country lay prostrated by the scourge the crochet industry
springing from this industrial center became the main sup-
port of the people of that district. The little hook-needle
was turned indeed into a very wand of hope, crochet was
taught in almost every convent, and ladies exerted them-
selves to form classes, introduce and invent new designs,
and to keep up and improve the standard and quality of
the work. The names of two ladies are particularly asso-
ciated with this effort to save a starving people by creating
a new industry, namely, those of Mrs. Roberts of Fountain,
County Kildare, and Mrs. Hand, the wife of Lovicka, of
Cloynes, County of Monaghan. These ladies took as their
models of design five old Italian guipures and Venice
points and adapted them to crochet ; and it is due to their
intelligent direction that much of Irish crochet is so rich
and Venetian in appearance. Every girl taught was
obliged to teach three more, and she could not get employ-
ment till she gave evidence that three girls had been
taught by her to do good work. In this way the spirit of

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 686

Christian helpfulness spread, and thousands of girls were
soon earning money to support their families. Irish
crochet laces, for which sympathy for suffering created so
great a demand, unfortunately fell so out of fashion, a ruin-
ous trade competition and the demand for cheapness so
lowered wages and degenerated the once beautiful work,
that the industry almost died out. Mr. Biddle of London
has of late years done much to revive it, and has supplied
the Irish workers with beautiful designs. He has also
introduced a splendid crochet lace in lustrous silk, both
black and white, which is now called " Royal," owing to the
fact that the queen, in order to encourage the work, wore a
quantity of this lace on her dress at a recent drawing-
room.

Before concluding this account of the Irish laces I must
mention an effort now being made to introduce the pillow
and the making of Torchon or platted laces into Ireland.
Mrs. Dawson of Bedford, County Mayo, has been for many
years engaged in this work and has taught numbers of girls
to make good Torchon laces. I have also in Gweedore,
County Donegal, made an effort to establish pillow-lace as
one of the industries of the place, and have opened a lace
school where gfirls are taught Torchon and Kells laces. In
the effort to draw public attention to the beauty and capa-
bilities of Irish laces I have exhibited them at a great num-
ber of the recent international exhibitions, and at the great
exhibition in Paris in 1889 I was awarded the silver medal
for my exhibition of Irish lace.

The Irish Industries Association, which has been recently
formed by Lady Aberdeen, will do useful work if it carries
out its programme, namely, to associate the lace industries
and lace centers of Ireland, to provide good and marketable
designs and to find a foreign market for their products.

Brave pioneer work is being done in Ireland to encour-
age home industries, by women little known to fame. The
story of Miss Sturge's work has always struck me as one
of the most touching and inspiring. Miss Sturge, a young

586 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and beautiful Quaker lady, touched by stories of the need
of employment of the people in Connemara, left her home in
Birmingham and settled on the wild coast of Connemara in
order to teach the peasant boys the art and industry of
basket-making. She has succeeded so well that she has now
a flourishing little industry. Numbers of ladies are doing,
similar work in other industries, among whom I may men-
tion Mrs. Power Lawlor of Dublin, Miss Johnson of Ardglass
the Duchess of Abercom, Miss Roberts of Burtonport, Miss
Oreene of County Tyrone, Miss O'Hara of Raheen, County
•Galway; Miss Chaine of Port Stewart, Mrs. Davidson of
Balinakille, Mrs. Home Payne of London. To many of these
our Organization for the Encouragement of Irish Home In-
dustries has been of the greatest value, as we supply them
with work and designs for their classes and employes.

This brings me lastly to speak of my own work for the
encouragement of home industries in Ireland, which is so
well known that I think it is necessary for me to make only
the briefest allusion to it.

Ten years ago my attention was attracted to the congested
districts of County Donegal by the stories of distress and
destitution which were said to prevail there, and I urged
my husband to go with me on a tour of inquiry into the
causes of the people's poverty. We went, and found a pop-
ulation numbering no less than one hundred thousand
living along the creeks and bays of a wild coast, or squatting
on the bogs, striving to cultivate a barren soil and separated
from the rest of the world by thirty miles of uninhabited
bog; a population living always on the verge of distress and
whom a misfortune such as a failure of the potato harvest
would plunge into the depths of distress. I came to the
conclusion that the question here was not agricultural but
industrial, and that these people require not charity, which
was ruining them, but the cultivation among them of
industries such as were of so g^eat benefit to the people of
Bohemia and the Tyrol, and which were so large and well
organized in other and more prosperous parts of Ireland.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 687

Having once decided that this was the solution of the diffi-
cult problem I set to work at it, and for ten years I have
labored incessantly, devoting time, brains, and money to
the cause. That we have succeeded in teaching them to
produce marketable wares is proved by the fact that some
of the leading houses in New York, Philadelphia, and
Chicago have placed orders for our hand-made stuflfs, our
embroideries and home-spun linens. I consider this the
best test of success.

The next test of success, and of permanent benefit to the
people, is to make these industries thoroughly self-supporting
as commercial undertakings. The collapse of many of the
lace industries of Ireland, of which I have told you the
story, is due to the fact that, though founded in enthusiasm
they have not been related to commerce, and have often
after the first outpourings of generosity, languished and
died from inanition. Now the organized cottage industries
of Ireland, which have been founded by the g^at firms of
Belfast and Deny, have been established and are conducted
on commercial lines, and are hence of permanent benefit to
thousands of homes in Ireland. You will be surprised to
learn how large and extensive are these cottage industries.
In the g^eat industry of Belfast, the products of which are
the embroidered handkerchiefs and household linen so
much liked by American ladies, there are at least twenty
thousand g^rls all employed in their own homes in embroid-
ery alone. One large Belfast firm which furnished me with
returns for an article on this subject, stated that they
employed six thousand five hundred sewing girls, and
turned out one million two hundred and fifty-five thousand
-dozen handkerchiefs a year, mainly for the American
market. This industry was severely curtailed by the
McKinley tariff. In the shirt-making and under-linen
industries of Deny, numbers of women are employed in
their own homes, either sewing by hand or by machine, and
it is estimated that at least seven thousand women are
employed in their own homes by the Deny houses.

688 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Pondering all these facts I determined to found my work
for the poor of the congested districts of Donegal on two
broad principles, which are, that all public industries to be
successful must be based on practical technical teaching,
and that they must be carried on on sound financial and
commercial principles ; on these lines, through good report
and ill report, I have tried to accomplish my task, though
acting always myself as a disinterested volunteer in the
matter. With regard to technical teaching, I first demon-
strated seven years ago that the native homespun indus-
try of the people of County Donegal could be immensely
improved by the practical technical teaching we had given
in dyeing, spinning, and weaving, and on bringing the
subject before the government I received a vote in Parlia-
ment to enable me to carry out a scheme of training technical
teachers in villages and sending them on itinerant tours
through the county. This scheme was carried out by us in
1 888 and 1 889, with the result that the old and nearly defunct
industry of making homespun received such an impetus
that it now brings in not less than from seventy-five to one
hundred thousand dollars a year into this poor district. A
technical school has also been established in Gweedore, with
a congeries of workshops, where the village boys and girls
are taught wood-carving, carpentry, wheelwright work,
tailoring, sewing, and lace-making. The cottage industries
of knitting and homespun have been most carefully and
laboriously taught and directed, and made a means of earn-
ing to large numbers of households.

The benefit to this desperately poor district of the revival
and encouragement of these simple home industries has
been incalculable, but more than the money that they have
brought into the district — and I have paid more than three
hundred thousand dollars into Ireland for work and wages
— is the revival of hope and the preservation of self-reliance
among this worthy peasantry. In other parts of Ireland also
are organizations, one of which is known as the Donegal
Industrial Fund, which has its headquarters at Donegal

• ••• •••

>

Lady Lincmkk Suriva.

ISABELLK BOC.KLOT. CALLIHRHOE PAKREN.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 689

House ; another, the Depot for Irish Industries, 43 Wigmore
Street, London, has established a new cottage industry of the
Kells embroideries, of which the linens are woven in hand-
looms in the cottages, and the embroidery done by poor
ladies at home. The making also of under-linen, of lace and
sprigging has been taught and encouraged, and numbers of
convent schools and small organizations have received from
us direction and suggestion.

This brief account of the eflforts made by women to
encourage home industry in Ireland, when we remember
the work past and present done by such women as Barbara
Uttmann in Saxony, Mrs. Hansom in Constantinople, and
the Baroness Burdett-Coutts in Baltimore, will show that
women can be the very mothers of industry, and that while
not neglecting their own homes they can make the homes
of thousands of women who are bowed with care and tor-
tured with penury brighter, happier, and holier.

THE ABOVE SUBJECT CONTINUED IN AN ADDRESS BY HELENA
T. GOESSMANN OF MASSACHUSETTS.

In the history gleaned from the pages of holy writ are
the cradle-song of a Virgin Mother; the noble love of a
penitent Magdalen ; the gentle suasion of a womanly Salome ;
the first Sister of Charity, Dorcas of Lydia ; the Christian
mothers and scholars, Lois and Eunice ; the woman merchant
of Thyatira, Lydia ; the tent-makers, Aquila and Priscilla^
model workers and wives. Turning pages to the days
of Roman power we read with tender pity, pride, and
even surprise, of the slave maiden and martyr of Lyons,
Blandina; the patrician dame, Perpetua; Marcella of the
Eternal City, pupil of philosophy ; Fabiola, the city mis-
sionary ; and Pukacia, the foster-parent of an emperor. In
the ages that follow are such examples as Genevieve of
Nontare, the shepherdess ; Clotilda, Bertha, and Ethelberga,
queens and reformers; Lioba, counselor in matters spirit-

30

590 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ual of bishops and abbots ; Hilda, of a royal race, student
of Scripture and foundress of many schools ; Gisella, sister
of the mighty Charlemagne, patroness of science and litera-
ture ; Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, writer of classic comedies ;
Herrade, compiler of the first encyclopedia; Margaret of
Scotland, queen and architect; Elizabeth of Hungary,
foundress of hospitals and orphanages ; Catherine of Siena,
apprenticed in the dye-house of her father ; Joan of Arc,
leader of a royal army ; Theresa of Avela, mystical writer ;
Cassandra Fidele, professor at the University of Padua;
Helena Kanaro, honored by this same institution with its
highest degrees ; Maria Agnesi, mathematician, eulogized
by Fontwell, Bosway, and Colson of Cambridge ; and lo!
we touch the history of our own century replete as well
with its familiar examples of woman's work in every field
of labor.

** Like a man choosing a profession, when a woman mar-
ries," says John Stuart Mill, " it generally may be under-
stood that she makes a choice of the management of a
household and the bringing up of a family as the first call
upon her exertions during so many years of her life as may
be required for the purpose, and that she renounces all other
objects and occupations but those which are consistent with
this." And again he exclaims with great, earnestness,
" Women are most wanted for the things for which they are
most fit."

Horace Mann writes, " God has created the race of male
and female on the principle of a division of labor." And he
adds, as if to give a key to his dictum, ** No higher respect is
due the greatest inventor or discoverer than to the woman
who has mastered the science of domestic economy."

From this point begins the outward influence of the home,
as into a busy, demanding world crowd workers of both
sexes, cultivated according to the home's tone and elevation.

Labor sustains the homes, and in a free land it is the
trades-people, with the knowledge of a craft, that make,
support, and dignify a great nation.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 691

To-day a puzzling picture greets the observing eye, and
the truly philosophical pause and ask themselves what can
be the natural outcome of an evolution which places woman
in a position broader and more exacting than that enjoyed
by her grandmother and her mother. She labors for love
of labor, when conditions do not demand it. She walks
side by side with her brothers in the halls of learning, on
the business thoroughfares, judging and adopting opinions
of life freely for herself, and making her mark for excel-
lence in certain lines so frequently and brilliantly that the
skeptic pauses, and for a brief moment at least doubts his
own preconceived opinions. Still she is a woman, and as
long as she remains such, respect is her due. No true man
will deride her, and no honest member of her own sex mis-
understand her ; but let the mantle of her female modesty
and womanly attributes fall from her, revealing an identity
that uses privileges as rights, progress as license, and mis-
takes clamor for applause, and we have before us something
which is possible when woman leaves the home shelter not
to benefit but to impress humanity.

There never was an age since the day of woman's crea-
tion when so many legitimate opportunities were given her
to become a part of the working world, a beneficiary of its
latest and best crafts, and a sharer alike with man in its
emoluments. Setting aside the professions of politics, law,
and arms, wholly, for the majority, unfitted to a woman's
nature, we find her as the physician of her own sex, the
trained nurse of the hospital, the successful pharmacist, the
student of astronomy and botany, the teacher of the young,
the publisher, the printer, the artist, the architect, and the
housekeeper, all of which occupations open to her fields
replete with chances for a cultivated and honest life, with-
out one iota of compromise as regards the position of her
sex, while unlimited ways of doing good, advancing the
interest of human society, and growing mentally and mor-
ally herself, blend with these conditions.

If in these varied avenues she does not find a congenial

692 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

occupation, then her own individual nature and not social
usages are at fault. She need not weep, and claim her
vocation is as " Hobson's choice.** There is plenty of work
for the willing laborer, but there is no sure antidote known
for the chronic grumbler. The old adage of " room at the
top *' applies to woman as well as to man in their suitable
occupations. Her possible trades, her legitimate profes-
sions, are, because so ordained by God, and sustained by
reason and common sense, more noble the closer they are
allied with her domestic nature. Her influence over man
lies in this very fact.

" Her well-ordered home,** says one who has studied her,
" dignifies and ennobles a well-ordered state,** and " wide
and illimitable,** claims John Stuart Mill, " as is her work
of love, its center and beginning must be home.**

The Effect of Modern Changes in Industrial and
Social Life on Woman's Marriage Prospects —
Address by Kaethe Schirmacher of Germany.

It is the marriage prospects of the modem woman in
Germany that I shall discuss before you.

The marriage prospects of every woman depend as a rule
upon three circumstances, the first of which is the number
of eligible men living in the country. In this respect the
German women are not particularly favored, for their num-
ber exceeds that of the men by a round one million and a
half, so that it is impossible for every German woman to
marry, unless we institute polygamy, put a tax on bachelors,
or forbid young men to emigrate.

The second- circumstance upon which the marriage pros-
pects of a woman depend is the gp-eater or less facility her
countrymen find in founding a household of their own and
supporting a family. In this direction the prospects of
German women are not bright. All over Germany you
will hear the same complaint, that wants are great, money

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 593

and employment scarce, no new openings to be found, the
struggle for life harder than ever, and the possibility of
making both ends meet less than before. Under these
circumstances the number of marriages is likely to decrease,
and actually is decreasing.

I come to the third point to be considered. It is of a less
material character than the two preceding ones, but of
still more vital interest. It refers to the views the two
sexes hold on marriage in general, and the ideal type they
expect one another to live up to.

Now what is, as a rule, a German man entitled to expect
his wife to be ? The answer is very short. His inferior,
but a pleasant one ; an inferior that at the same time is a
lady, meets with all the outward marks of respect due to a
lady, and yet in all the more important questions of life
remains an inferior. This is no exaggeration.

Consult the church in Germany — she says : The Christian
wife is an obedient wife.

Consult the German law — it says : The German wife, as a
person being supported by her husband, has in all outward
circumstances to submit to his will, and in affairs of great
importance may not act without his permission.

Consult the army, as the most privileged and most highly
considered class of German society — it will answer : A wife
is a very pretty, agreeable, and lovable object, but incapa-
ble of doing military service, and therefore inferior to
man.

Consult the men of science, and, except some of broader
views, they will pretend, even should it be into the teeth
of fact, that a woman is incapable of thorough work, high
intellectual training, and high intellectual achievement.

Consult the German government — it has hitherto shut
woman out from the university as a student, from the upper
classes of girls' high schools as a teacher, from the school
board, the advisory councils, from all public affairs, and all
public functions. A German woman is no citizen.

Consult the German press — and except some liberal papers

694 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and reviews, exceptions to the rule for which we are most
truly thankful, it but reechoes the judgments quoted above,
and even liberal-minded editors of great liberal papers are
taken aback at the idea of a woman's discussing political
economy and politics.

Consult German literature — and you will find it knows only
of one relation between men and women, the relation through
love and passion. The relation through thought, opinion,
work, and the modifying influence of these on love or pass-
ion seem to have been perfectly unknown hitherto.

Then, after having consulted all these authorities, address
yourself to an average German man on the point of getting
married, and ask him what he expects his future wife to
be. I think he will answer, " Pretty and gay, ignorant of
life, able to follow me in my thoughts to a certain extent,
but by no means independent.**

Now, a modem woman may be pretty and she may be
gay, but she is never ignorant of life, and she is always
independent in feeling and opinion ; therefore, her marriage
prospects in Germany, and all the countries sharing the
German ideal, are poor.

Hitherto a German woman, on the average, had but
one way of being happy, useful, and respected — through
marriage, through man; and she could attain this with-
out a special training of her faculties, or a thorough devel-
opment of her character.

A modem woman, on the contrary, does not consider
marriage as her inevitable fate ; nor is she convinced that it
is every woman's chief vocation, or that it should be every
woman's disposition to fulfill the duties of a wife and mother ;
nor does she believe that without a special training of her
faculties and a thorough development of her character a
woman can be able to fulfill these duties as they should be
fulfilled. She therefore asks as her right, considers as her
personal duty, considers as a general necessity, that a woman
should in the first place be a character and full-grown per-
sonality ; that she should, secondly, make sure of her chief

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 595

gift or capacity, and train it, so as to know what regular
work means and be able to support herself.

Then, having obtained this, she asks for the liberty to
choose marriage if she feels particularly disposed toward
it, and to refuse it if she sees another way of being more
happy, or more useful to the world ; and this latter decis-
ion she wants to be allowed to make without being pitied by
the world or blamed for it.

A modem woman having thus developed her brain and
her will, there is still one quality she can not do without — a
warm heart. She must have a feeling of fellowship toward
all other women, pulling, so to speak, at the same rope with
her ; the wish to help all those who, striving in the same
direction with her, may be less gifted or less fortunate than
she ; to help all those who, losing courage, have ceased to
fight. Unless she have the backbone of a conviction, the
desire to stand with others for a cause, and to claim
justice, she is no modern woman.

I now repeat my question. Is this modern woman the
wife her German countrymen expect ? And I make the
same answer as before. No, she is not, and therefore her
marriage prospects in Germany are poor.

Though the modem woman knows that marriage in the
present actual state of development in Germany is not
meant for her, yet she is not at all averse to marriage in
itself.

Being a full-grown and fully developed woman, she is
perfectly capable of love, of passion and devotion. She does
not pride herself on being insensible to love, nor affect a
lofty and ridiculous disdain for men in general. On the
contrary, knowing how hard it is to develop a character, and
how much it has cost her to make her way, she will fully
appreciate a man who, having done the same, expects the
same from her ; a man with whom she may share her ideas,
thoughts, and feelings, her experiences, her tendencies, per-
haps even her profession ; a man whose comrade she will be,
as well as his wife ; for the modem marriage, in spite of all

596 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the rapture, love, and passion attached to marriage, is based
in the first place on comradeship and mutual understanding.

Unless the modem woman find a man to appreciate her
strength of will and tenacity of purpose, as she does his ;
unless he admit her to his life on a footing of perfect
equality, for the simple reason that she is his equal ; unless
she can be sure of finding all this in a husband, I think
she will not marry.

She supports herself, and so does not want to marry in
order that she may be provided for. She is fond of her
work, absorbed by it, makes friends by it, is respected for
it, and so need not marry in order to obtain the regard
due to a useful member of society.

That at times she will suffer from being alone, that she
will have her hours of temptation, of depression, the modem
woman is far too upright to deny. Yet, so far as I can see,
a character of this stamp, a modem woman, will cherish
liberty above all, and will be happier still when living alone,
free to think, to feel, and act as she likes, than if, having
married (for marrying's or passion's sake) a man she does
not thoroughly agree with, she must be bored by his pres-
ence all her life.

And the modem woman begins to be rather easily bored.
Hitherto women have been taught to lookup to men, and on
the whole they have done so. Now this innate feeling of
respect for a man as such is more and more declining in the
soul of the modem woman, and this change I consider most
decisive as to the marriage prospects of our sex. It is not
a change one can rejoice in — it is very painful to realize ;
for who would not prefer admiring, venerating with all
her heart, to blaming, judging, and condemning?

Yet this change from innate respect to downright indif-
ference is actually coming about. It can not be avoided,
for it is the natural result of the modern woman's deepen-
ing experience of life — of her knowledge of the realities
of the world. It is this knowledge that estranges woman
from man. A woman that has come to know by direct per-

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 597

sonal experience what this worid is actually like, what she
may meet with, in spite of being a lady, when trying to
make her way by herself and going out unprotected by a
great name or a chaperon ; a woman who has come to
realize that there are two moral standards, and that what is
morally wrong for 'her is allowed to men; a woman that
has looked into the depths of society, has understood its
sham and its shame — such a woman is not likely to consider
men as her superiors nor to be satisfied with the world as it
stands. From her own experience, her own reflection, a
quiet, concentrated, but very earnest protest is rising, a pro-
test against the world as it is. And taking into account her
character, how can it be otherwise ?

Considering, however, the views of the German husband
this state of affairs can but displease him. For women
leading independent lives, holding certain decided views ;
women with ideas and principles, women who before mar-
riage have taken to their own wings and made their way in
the worid ; women judging men and asking them to account
for various very unpleasant things in the world; such women
are, in Germany at least, still a great, a very great and
startling innovation, and therefore, I repeat, their marriage
prospects are poor. Things will not always remain like this.
The modern woman is highly organized; the weather
all over Europe is black, and times of storm and stress are
always favorable to the rising types. Let the modem
woman stand the test of troubles now threatened, and she
will see her claims admitted ; let her exemplify the survival
of the fittest, and she will be respected ; let her with all her
independence still be a woman, and she will be desired.
Until the times come when the modem woman shall meet
the modem man, we have to work, to sow and plant with a
never-resting hand, that there may grow great characters
for the world, characters able to grapple with the great
problems at issue; it is characters we want, for as Walt
Whitman says, ** Have great men and the rest will follow.*'

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

THE DISCUSSION OF THE PRECEDING SUBJECT — INTRODUCED
BY ALICE TIMMONS TOOMY OF CALIFORNIA.

I hope it will not seem ungracious if I preface my
remarks by saying that the expression " Woman's prospects
of marriage ** jars on me. There is to my mind the jingle
of money and traffic back of it. The word prospect at once
suggests rise and fall in the price of grain or in the stock
markets. Woman, as I love to picture her, after a few more
congresses, will, with God's blessing, be abl6 to create her
own prospects. It is my theory that every little girl ought
to enjoy physical life, and be talked to frequently, just as a
boy is, of what she is going to be and do. I would teach
every girl a profession, business, or trade, so as to give her
a definite purpose in life, as well as a means of self-sup-
port. God has given girls talents and capacities, just as he
has given them to boys. Surely he did not mean the girls
to be purely ornamental, as they so frequently are. I know
there is a pretty theory that every woman ought to have a
supporter in father, brother, or husband, but even if this
were a desirable condition, statistics show that through the
result of wars and other excesses there are not enough
fathers, brothers, and husbands to supply the demand. It
may be objected that earning her living would be hard
work for a. woman ; but my observation is that the aver-
age privileged society woman does as hard work as the
woman who follows other occupations for several hours a
day.

The society woman's idea of duties and work might not
accord with that of a business or professional woman, but
one is just as full of affairs as the other. Do any of us
know any woman who has time ? The plea of every one is,
" I am so busy, I have no time." Considering marriage as
a prospect, I think the growth of luxury and expensive
habits is one of the great hindrances to marriage. Club life
spoils men for married life.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 599

Costly bringing up and inability to earn her own living
make a woman without a fortune dependent on getting a
rich husband.

The luxurious young man of the present day has unlim-
ited capacity for getting rid of money, and is consequently
a little shy of sharing his income with the undowered object
of his affection.

These are, I think, the effects of modem social changes
on marriage prospects; not only on the number of mar-
riages, but on their quality.

True marriage brings, of course, the completest fulfill-
ment of a woman's nature as wife and mother. John Stuart
Mill describes the highest marriage as " a union of two per-
sons of cultivated faculties, identical in opinion and pur-
poses, between whom there exists that best kind of equality,
similarity of powers, with reciprocal superiority in them ;
so that one can enjoy the luxury of looking up to the other
and can have alternately the pleasure of leading and being
led in the path of development." That this is not purely a
theoretic picture is proved by the fact that John Stuart
Mill himself enjoyed just such an ideal marriage. But for
such marriage there must be freedom of selection, untram-
meled by mercenary motives.

The woman with a fortune or a bread-winning capacity is
alone free to make such a marriage. Every advance, there-
fore, in the development of occupations for women increases
the opportunity of marriage on this high plane.

DISCUSSION CONTINUED BY REV. ANNA H. SHAW OF
MICHIGAN.

The question before us is this, "What is marriage?"
Is it a mere coming together of two people who have fallen
in love ? Do you know that love is the only thing people
ever fall into ? If a man undertakes any form of business in
the world he deliberates upon the business, his attainments,

600 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

his preparation to manage and master it, and the possibility
of his success — the whole ground is studied over carefully ;
but when two people undertake to enter upon the most
serious business in life — that from which they can not
well ever be rescued — instead of deliberating they ** fall "
into it. A young man sees a young woman " with marvel-
ous bangs," and that is the last of him. A young woman
sees a young man with ** a marvelous mustache," and that
is the last of her. They have fallen in love. After they
are married they find that marriage means something
besides bangs and mustache. My idea of marriage is of
the highest and holiest kind. I believe marriage, and the
home that is the result of marriage, is the holy of holies
this side of the throne of God; and that any two people
who enter upon this sacred relation should be those who
are fitted to found in this world a home which is a type of
the home which awaits us all beyond. I believe that what-
ever broadens and enlarges woman, whatever develops any
of the capacities which God has given her, fits her to
become a founder of this kind of home. Anything which
makes a woman free, anything which develops her physical,
mental, moral, or spiritual life makes her better fitted to be
the founder of a home.

Now the whole thought upon this question is that women
develop, but that during this age of development which
has come to woman, men have remained stationary. As
women grow broader, men are also growing broader, and I
believe the man of the future will demand for his wife the
woman of the future, as the man of to-day demands the
woman of to-day. As our boys and girls are reared together,
as they become educated in our institutions of learning
together, as they go out in trades and professions together,
our young men will never know any other kind of woman-
hood than that with which they are reared ; and so I believe
a woman's marriage prospect is equally good with a man's
marriage prospect, for if a woman loses her prospect here a
man must lose his prospect also. Since men will not give up

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 601

marriage, women also, you see, can not give up marriage ;
so the marriage prospect of one sex is equally good with
the marriage prospect of the other under any condition in
life. But I believe the man of to-day is beginning to demand
a nobler woman for his wife ; and although in the past, men
considered that absolute innocence and ignorance and in-
ability to do anything but entertain them were admirable
traits in a sweetheart, it is marvelous how much good sense
they expected of the woman after she became a wife. The
difference between what a man demands of the woman with
whom he is passing a few of his leisure hours and what he
demands of her when she becomes his wife is wonderful ;
and I believe the man of the future will demand of the
woman of the future that kind of training which will makie
her not only a good cook and a good housekeeper, but also
his companion in all that interests and concerns him.

Why should we care for marriage unless it is the highest
state into which men and women can enter ? Why should
one seek marriage unless it is better to her than the unmar-
ried state ? If marriage offers nothing better than the con-
ditions out of which one goes, unless marriage has some-
thing that it can hold up as an inducement over against
these conditions, we can not expect the modem woman to
give up her leisure, her independence, and all that comes to
a woman outside of marriage.

I am not one who believes that motherhood is the high-
est crown of glory which a woman can wear. I must con-
fess I have heard that poetry all my life. It is good poetry ;
it sounds well, and it comforts us, but it is not true. Woman
is something more and greater than a mother. Woman is
something more and greater than any of the external con-
ditions of her life. The highest crown of glory that any
woman can wear is pure, strong, noble, virtuous, dignified
womanhood. After a woman has attained to that fullness
of perfect womanhood, then let come to her what will,
motherhood or spinsterhood, either will be equally with the
other a crown of glory.

602 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

I say again that marriage must have something to offer
to the average woman of to-day, the woman of culture, the
woman of education, the woman able to earn a good salary
and make for herself a beautiful home. Marriage must
have something in it worthy of that woman, and worthy of
the sacrifice which she shall make of her independence. I
believe that marriage has much to offer. The ideal, the
marriage which I believe God has in his mind when he
conceives of home, is the marriage made by two who
enter into the home as equal partners. So long as in the
marriage ceremony of any church there remains the com-
mand on the part of one to obey, and of the other to com-
pel or demand obedience, the home founded can not be the
highest and best place for men and women. When public
sentiment has risen to that high plane which shall demand
that no woman shall become subservient to her husband or
commit perjur}% we shall have the ideal marriage, and until
we have ideal marriage we can not tell what effect any
change in either business or social conditions can have upon
woman's marriage prospect.

I believe that underlying the perfect marriage must be
perfect equality of the two entering upon this estate;
perfect equality everywhere and perfect respect ; neither to
rule as head over the other, neither to be submissive and
subordinate to the other, but each to be the equal, the com-
rade and the friend of the other.

Now concerning this whole change in woman's life, I
admit frankly that there may be some little harm, some
little hurt, resulting from it. There has never been any
great reformation without some harm in the transition
period. In giving liberty to the slave some harm came to
both slave and master. From any great movement we
expect some evil to follow. There has never been a great
revival of religion but some evil came in its train. So in
this transition stage from subordination and dependence to
self-respect and independence there will be some friction.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 603

DISCUSSION CONCLUDED BY EMILY MARSHALL WADSWORTH

OF NEW YORK.

It is plain to me that the time has not yet fully come for
IIS to know what really are " the effects of modern changes
in industrial and social life on woman's marriage pros-
pects." The earth still awaits her queen, and the sex is as
yet only moving toward that grander type of woman, which,
as part of the great onward march of humanity, she must
attain.

These great changes are, however, now promising, nay,
even giving, much that is best and grandest in life to woman,
and it is not in nature that they do, or will, or can, in any
sense jeopardize her marriage prospects ; for to woman the
holy state of matrimony must ever hold the fullest, noblest,
completest life, "that fairer Eden where wifehood and
motherhood take on something of the divine tenderness of
Godhood."

But call these changes what you may — higher education,
emancipation, freedom of the ballot for woman — they all
mean the same thing — advancement — and one of their
most marked effects is to raise the standard of marriage,
chiefly perhaps in this sense, that women may and do
require more than they once did ; and as, happily, it is no
longer necessary to regard marriage as a means of liveli-
hood, they may await the coming of the man of kindred
tastes and temperament, and marriage may at last be based
solely on love, respect, equality.

There was a time, and not many years ago either, when
it was safe to say that any man might marry any woman
he chose, but now I believe that any woman may deliber-
ately choose her man and marry him, and, what is more,
make him do the asking.

It is objected that wage-earning and higher education
make women less likely to love. On the contrary, I believe
they elevate and ennoble heart as well as head. As for the

industries and occupations. 606

Organization among Women as an Instrument in Pro-
moting THE Interests of Industry — Address by
Kate Bond of New York.

I am asked to consider the application of this great pro-
moter of effects, organization, to the production of material
things, and believing '* that progress may simply be re-
garded as the development of order," I gladly speak to
you on this subject, for I believe that to secure order
organization is essential ; and " socially as well as individ-
ually organization is indispensable to growth ; beyond a cer-
tain point there can not be further growth without further
organization."

Side by side with national progress, and in the wake of
modern civilization, has followed the necessity of order.
Organization has developed as population has increased,
and new possibilities have presented themselves to the
people.

With increased knowledge and multiplied industrial re-
sources, there has developed a consciousness of personal
power. The Ego is emphasized, and individualism expresses
itself in our age as never before, and as a consequence we
reap the advantage of personal enterprise and success.
Democratic principles prevail, and each man recognizes his
own needs, discerns his possibilities, and claims his indi-
vidual rights. Equality has -become the watchword of
progress.

Equality is an individual possession given by law, and
upon it rests human liberty ; but individuals make up the
collective whole, and order requires that in protecting the
one we shall also subserve the interests of the many.

Hence, while all men may be born equal before the law,
citizenship has its limitations; and its best individualism
can only be attained when, by organization, protection is
secured to the entire community.

Reckless use of power and indiscriminate violence is no
essential part of equality. Order requires that participation

40

606 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

of many shall be essential to progress, and by it only can
continued growth in civilization be maintained.

The warfare of to-day is an internecine one — it is based
upon enmity among brothers ; and this enmity, whatever
its source, whether it arise from social, or economic, or
political causes, can never be effaced by personal conflict.
Power may control and overcome tumult, law may limit
action that is detrimental to the general welfare, but the
happiness of all concerned and the growth of progress
depends upon conciliation between the offended parties,
and organized effort, that shall tend to the welfare of each.

It has been well said "that the industrial economy which
divides society absolutely into two portions, the payers of
wages and the receivers of them, the first counted by thou-
sands and the last by millions, is neither fit for nor capable
of indefinite duration ; and the possibility of changing this
system for one of combination without dependence and
unity of interest instead of organized hostility depends
altogether upon the future development of the partnership
principle." — Mill.

The past has been remarkable for the increase of actual
force ; the force of combined members on the one hand, of
concentrated wealth on the other. The problem of the
future is therefore a double one. Industrial progress de-
pends upon two constituents, material and human, and
the solution of this problem which has arisen must be ade-
quate to meet the material as well as the human demands.

By the provision of an all- wise Providence, human needs
can not be met by economic laws alone. Moral aspects and
influences must also be comprehended and considered. The
issues involved in the use of capital and the payment of
wages can not be confined to economic results. The life of
the race depends upon the moral adjustments connected
with man's relation to man ; and however progressive civil-
ization may have become, and however great the class
distinctions, the eternal command to love our neighbor as
ourselves will continue to repeat itself and to exact obedi-

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 607

ence — and the demands of humanity will not be silenced
until God's voice is heard and heeded.

While recognizing this supreme command individual lib-
erty will not be interfered with ; nor will competition be re-
moved. Men will come to see that individual interests can
be reconciled, and that the measures which promote per-
sonal advantage will tend to the collective welfare.

Money is powerless unless controlled in its employment
by men, and coupled in its outlay with labor, which has
been well defined as "wealth-creating effort." When this
conception of wealth is accepted the employer and the em-
ploy6 will stand upon a common basis of possession. The
man who has capital will recognize his dependence upon
labor, which is also capital ; in manufacture a fair estimate
of how much each party has contributed to the forces of
production will be considered ; by conciliation and mutual
settlement individual interests will be protected, and the
problems in industry which seem to-day so difficult of
adjustment will not long continue unsolved.

We have seen that the beliefs of one age have been dis-
sipated by the innovations of successive years. We have
learned that ideas which it would seem could never be
overturned, because of their fixedness in the public mind,
have been displaced without visible processes, but through
the silent influences of public sentiment. Education has
brought enlightenment; and that which was deemed an
incontrovertible argument for their permanency has come
to be regarded as a palpable absurdity.

So the fancy that the employer and the employ^ must re-
main separate in interest will eventually become a thought
of the past. The signs of cooperation and conciliation are
even now visible, and in the labor unions, trade societies,
corporations, and syndicates, which seem in their methods
oftentimes so unwise, disorderly, and grasping, we yet
behold the recognition of the power of organization, which
shall ultimately tend to develop order in industries.

Men no longer act singly, but unitedly. Self-protection

6(>8 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and emolument demand union of effort. All classes per-
ceive it. Public opinion is fast being educated to this
belief. Observation is busy collecting facts upon which the
future structure of civilization and trade shall be built, and
with divine patience Christianity enforces her precepts.
Angered and misguided men may revolt and delay organ-
ization, but progress, though it may be hindered, can not
be stopped.

So-called socialism, which " consists in party organization,
in spreading the desire for material improvement among
the masses, in pressing into the service of the social propa-
ganda all centralizing tendencies in the State, in trade and
in journalism, can not accomplish the desired result."

The leaders of this unjust socialism consider but one
class in the community. They criticise capital, and style
private property " robbery," and by so doing^they lose their
opportunity to promote the cause which they have at heart.
They are disorderly in their outbursts of passion and in
their violence ; consequently progress is not promoted by
their combinations and public benefit is not realized.

Calm judgment will condemn this sort of socialism, nor
will it approve gross individualism. Justice and kindness
will ultimately prevail and win to their leadership the best
among us. Men will come to see that selfishness and
greed will result in reactionary revolutionary efforts ; that
directed by self-indulgence the evolution of the people will
not manifest itself in intellectual advance, but in moral
retrogression.

Whatever plans of adjustment may be made between the
proprietors of industries and the men employed by them
must be originated by themselves, and the overtures must
come from the proprietor. The association between these
parties exists under a system which is unsatisfactory to
both. It is uncertain and subject to interruption, and such
interruption is likely to interfere with profits and to prove
injurious to business.

To prevent uncertainty in production, labor must be

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 609

secure, and without production there can be no distribution ;
hence this security must be provided first.

How to insure production on the best conditions, those
involving the highest skill and most economical service,
has long been the consideration of manufacturers ; and amid
much excitement and the adverse influence of strikes
among workmen, honest thought has evolved helpful sug-
gestions and practical methods. Conciliation, arbitration,
profit^haring, and recognition of labor as a part of capital
have all been tested, and as a whole these various methods
have all given satisfaction to the employer and the employed.
Capital has augmented, cooperation has been efficient,
larger money receipts to the employer and the employed
have resulted. Moral sense on the part of the proprietor
has awakened it in the employes, and interruption to busi-
ness has been prevented. The rich and the poor have met
together in the conduct of business, and have mutually
shared greater or lesser success in trade.

We do not mean to limit our plea for cooperation and
order to men alone; women also demand this protection.
The old-time fallacy that women will be taken care of
by men has proved an empty boast. Women may marry
and assume the duties incident to their choice, often
to find money-earning added to their domestic burdens.
The working-man can not always support his family, even
if willing to do so; wages are inadequate to meet rent,
food, and clothing; and tenderness often inspires the
woman to join the ranks of wage-winners. And even if
all married women were supported by their husbands, what
is to become of the widow and the unmarried woman ?

The introduction of machinery has called women to
service outside of their homes. Dexterity of touch and
quickness of physical movement have made them available
in factories. Thus equal production with cheaper labor has
been secured. Men have been thrown out of employment
to give place to their wives and sisters, who will work for
what they can get ; and larger profits have thereby been

610 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

obtained; for a half -century or more this unjust labor of
women has been exacted, and to-day, despite factory
laws of a protective character, and a limit set to labor hours
by legislation, the enormities of the "sweating system"
and the methods of ready-made clothing-houses bring the
blush to honest faces, and pity shrinks helplessly away
from the sight of the suffering and penury of women who
work sixteen and eighteen hours a day to secure the shelter
of a dilapidated tenement, a few cups of tea and bits of
bread, meager clothing, and perchance quick release in
death.

The horrors of the life of women breadwinners have
been vividly described. These oppressed ones are crying
for help ; and if ever a Macedonian cry went up to the ears
of God's servants, it is uttered to-day by the working-women
of our cities and towns. They toil from early dawn to mid-
night and secure but scanty fare. They can not do more ;
their case is hopeless ; and they must keep up the fight with
injustice and greed or fall into a pauper's grave.

Women are not taken care of by men in the humble
walks of life, and they can not be until men's wages are
increased through organization and co5peration in manu-
facture. Even then a large number of women must depend
upon their own exertions for support ; and women must
submit to the conditions of labor imposed upon them by
men, for men are the employers, and there is no appeal
from their requirements — it may be the manager of the
factory, the superintendent of the works, or the master
sweater. Dismissal follows complaint ; and want of work
to a woman without friends must mean moral ruin or
starvation.

Why is the woman worker less fortunately placed than
the man ? Because woman has as yet made no place for
herselt socially. She is not recognized by society nor by
the commonwealth — she is an unknown quantity in the
world ; and before her condition as a wage-earner is im-
proved she must win place and recognition. If she ever

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 611

had a first estate which entitled her to support and protec-
tion, she has not been maintained in it by the force and
devotion of man, but stands to-day as one who fills the gap
left open by him, and does the work he will not perform and
takes the pay he resents as " too small."

Woman has filled a supplementary position, and she has no
place, because she has never been trained to skillful artisan-
ship. Woman came to work in agriculture as the helper
of her husband and father. She did not own the land, nor
gather the products, nor exchange them for money and sup-
plies. She toiled to help those she loved, without thought
of personal advantage.

When the factory system was introduced she gave dex-
terity to supplement the work of machinery. Without
recognizing the danger to family welfare she toiled for
wages lower than those exacted by man, and instead of
augmenting her husband's gain reduced his pay, and be-
came in part the breadwinner of the household without
increasing the income.

There was no organization to guard the interests of
women and children as participants in labor, and they
crowded the factories, and crushed out their lives by long
hours of toil and insufficient food and sleep ; and for fifty
years woman single-handed has continued to work to win
decent support, but has failed in her efforts.

Proprietorship and greed have dictated terms to this
unrecognized class of laborers ; and because no man cared
for their lives, they have accepted the injustice done to
themselves, and have huddled in tenement attics and
burned the midnight oil to keep their heads above the
sod.

As. yet the laboring-class of women receive no training
to fit them for their vocations. To sew is easily learned,
and needlework in various forms opens to girls ways
to earn a living; but a girl may from early youth to
mature years sew furs, gloves, ready-made clothing, etc.,
and her experience will not cause her to be appointed the

612 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

superintendent of the house at whose industry she may
have worked long. She continues as "only one of the
hands/* and has during the years of her toil received no
industrial training beyond that of sewing the part given
her. No system of promotion applies to her experience ;
and she gains no outside knowledge that will acquaint her
with new methods, nor with commercial demands induced
by an ever-changing trade.

Self-assertion and ambition are regarded as befitting
manly character ; but a woman is looked upon as an inter-
loper in business. She is not welcomed by male workers,
and is employed by proprietors only because she works
cheaper than do men, or else takes a place in the trades
rejected by men.

Women should be trained to become skillful artisans;
and the fathers who are in business should see to it that
their daughters receive from them exact training in com-
mercial pursuits, such as they g^ve to their sons. Then the
woman who must win her bread will have a fair chance
to do so. She will be conscious of her own qualifications,
and would not find herself so unfortunately at odds in a
struggle for place; and added to this advantage there
would ensue a willingness among men to be associated
with their sisters. Technical training is in part woman's
hope for the future. In the days to come she will be
equipped by the public school for her life-work ; and the
fact that the state will bestow upon her this education will
avow its recognition of her as a unit in the citizenship of
the whole. Woman at present receives no recognition even
from her own sex. This condition must change before
order can be secured. Women in better condition must
give recognition to the lower class, whose existence npw is
ignored, and who are left to be victimized by avarice and
to toil in despair.

Women of superior conditions must ally themselves with
the oppressed women in organization ; and by their knowl-
edge of life and its difficulties, by their education, and

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 618

because their own welfare depends upon it, they must
create public sentiment in favor of legislation that shall
protect the helpless, and that shall give to the wage-woman
recognition and protection through legal statute.

A single-handed fight for justice is hopeless. The mother
of one family may refuse to work at starvation wages, and
she may be arrested as a vagrant, and find warmth and
food at the state's expense ; but she can not alone enforce
justice to her associates in labor ; this must be done by com-
bination. All working-women, and all women who do not
need to work, but who know the wrongs done to their
sisters in service, should unite to reform evil practices, and
to secure righteous measures that shall add to the honor-
ableness of woman's labor and the recognition of its just
deserts.

And women can do this — as men have done it. Until
men were organized in trades societies and labor organiza-
tions they had no way of redress under bad conditions of
industry. Each man was at liberty to make his own con-
tract, and to live or die by it, but the welfare of the class
was not considered.

Conciliation, arbitration in difiiculties, could not be prac-
ticed ; and no recognition of the laborer was entertained
save by those who hired him, and they oftentimes regarded
him only as the means to an end. And this condition has
existed despite the fact that man for a hundred years has
been accounted a citizen in our United States, and has ex-
ercised a ballot, and has claimed the right of representation
in government.

But it has come that through organization, however
badly conducted, men have protected themselves. Wages
have been increased and made uniform. Labor has been
recognized as coexistent with and essential to capital in the
work of production. Trade has come to be recognized as
honorable, and men devoted to it have risen to high posi-
tion and have commanded universal respect. Education
has made it possible for men bom to labor and experienced

614 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

in manufacture to participate wisely in the general govern-
ment, to legislate for commercial protection, and to promote
national wealth.

Labor among men is not per se superior to labor among
women. Both perform it to obtain personal support ; both
give time, force, intelligence, and purpose to attain the one
result — the means to live. But men have place in the social
world. Men by organization secure to themselves a voice
in legislation ; and the laboring-man's ballot counts as high
as that of the luxurious idler.

Men organize for self-protection, and claim for themselves
recognition in the community. Men established the propo«
sition that upon them were dependent the women and chil-
dren of their households, and the employed met face ta
face with the employer and asserted their just demands ;
and as a result the rights of working-men have been recog-
nized by society.

Legislation has protected them, and civilization has made
it possible for the man who works with his hands, and is
honest in his labor, to advance socially and politically. How
sadly different is the position of the working-woman. She
must do work that men will not do, or else perform labor
at a price that men will not accept. She has no vote, and
therefore can not introduce to office men who will legislate
in her behalf. She has no power to resist the tyranny of
employers, for she may decline the offered work, but her
hollow-eyed, bony- fingered sisters rush quickly forward to
secure the employment she has refused. Men do not recog-
nize women as associates in labor and protect their interests
along with their own, for men of the working-classes claim
that women are their rivals in industry. Upon women they
charge the blame for low wages, and but for women, they
declare, a larger class of industries would be dependent
upon the services of men. In part this is true. Women do
work at reduced rates, and this is wrong.

Like labor should command like returns. A woman who
8ets type alongside of her brother should receive in the

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. - 616

same ratio wages for her work, but this principle can be
established only by organization. Women workers must
first secure recognition as a class upon which capital is
dependent before rights can be claimed, and before men
will acknowledge them. Like labor should command like
returns; but this will never be possible so long as every
woman cringes before competition, and stoops to accept the
least wage offered. Organization among women is the only
remedy to right the wrong; but organization should be
conducted with dignity and by wise methods, and right-
thinking, educated women should join hands with the
down-trodden, ignorant workers. American women who
work, and command industrial recognition among their
fellows because of education, character, and family rela-
tionship, should assume the leadership in these organiza-
tions. Public sentiment should be created by their influ-
ence. The press should be used to call attention to the
work and aim of organization among wage-earning women.
Without public sentiment in favor of a cause, be it ever so
just, action can never arise in its behalf. Society is indiffer-
ent to secret suffering only because it is ignorant of it.
Let women unite to acquaint each other with the suffer-
ings and wrongs endured among them. Talk to the voters
who share your comfortable homes. Influence their ballot
in favor of protection to woman's labor. Combine to lift
up by practical training the many who are unskilled. Have
the children, both girls and boys, taught in the public
schools to use their hands deftly.

See to it that technical training-schools are established.
Let women do their part to promote the recognition of
working-women socially.

It is a pitiful fact that instead of protecting wage-earning
women by our recognition of them as members of a whole
of which we too form a part, we too often pass them by
and are heedless of their injuries.

Organized charity pours oil into the wounds of those
abandoned toilers when the good Samaritan finds them by

616 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the wayside ; but no woman should fall by the way if
another woman's hand can keep her from falling. It is the
duty of all women to combine to resist injustice to every
woman.

Organize all women throughout the United States into a
woman's league, composed of local organizations, and let
trade associations be formed wherever a special kind of
work is done in quantity by women. Choose cool-headed
women of clear judgment to become leaders of these organi-
zations, both national and local.

Let no violent spirited partisans control their actions. Let
women of leisure consider the situation, and devise wise
government in them. Let women of wealth, alignment,
and luxury identify themselves with these movements; study
how best to adjust women toward labor and toward society,
and when the public are made cognizant of woman's wrongs,
and of a united effort on the part of mothers, daughters, and
sisters to right that which is wrong, and to deal righteously
one with another, good feeling will manifest itself, and will
formulate itself in law. Equal wages in return for equal
labor will be secured, working hours will be limited, and
ultimately the status of working women and men, socially
and politically, will be the same. Harmony in labor will
prevail. Competition between men and women workers
will cease. Wages will be just. Self-support will not be
difficult. Education will be universal, skilled labor will be
the only labor possible to an American citizen. To preserve
the advaiitages of American civilization and equality in
citizenship, immigration will be restricted alike to all
nationalities, and the reception of pauper incompetents
into our country will be forbidden.

God hasten the day when each soul clothed in human
form shall be recognized as the child of the Divine King,
and when because of its birthright, be it male or female, it
shall receive justice and honor.

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 617

Organization among Women as an Instrument in
Promoting the Interests of Industry — Address
BY Harriette a. Keyser of New York.

Organization is a great force of nature. What is one
star in the sky, one leaf of the forest, one drop of the ocean,
or one grain of sand on the ocean's shore ? Our own bodies
are results of organization. We might be irresponsible,
vagrant, shifting atoms flying apparently helter-skelter
through the universe ; instead we are organisms, and organ-
ization continues until we become an organization of organ-
isms and a social force.

Organization begins early. The children, who do not
know the meaning of the word, organize for their sports.
So do the lambs skipping about the green meadow or on
the hillside. Later we find flocks of sheep ; and men who
have put away childish things, still continue to organize for
every purpose under the sun, from the luxurious club with
its enervating influence to the trust whose suicidal policy
carried out to its logical conclusion must destroy the
private luxury it was created to promote.

Although organization is a law of nature and of society,
organization for industrial reform has in the past pursued
its way along thorny paths. By way of contrast, survey in
England that haggard offender in the time of George III.
breaking stones for the offense of striving to organize for
industrial interests, and then look at Joseph Havelock Wil-
son, M. P., speeding to sympathize with the Hull dockers.

It is impossible to trace out the most important cause
leading to any great change of public opinion, because such
cause is always spiritual and unseen ; nor have we time to
notice the stages of change from 1810, when the Friendly
Society of Iron Founders met on dark nights on. the wastes
and moors in the highlands of the midland counties of
England and buried their archives in the peat, to the great
Trades Union Acts of 1871 and 1876.

618 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The conservatives of this age have the views of the
radicals in those times ; but John Bums, M. P., a radical of
this age, is not yet satisfied, and in his late Hyde Park
address described Parliament as an organized conspiracy
of land and capital.

It is generally believed that the first strike in this coun-
try was that of the sailors in 1803, who paraded the streets
of New York with a brass band, forcing seamen to leave
their work and join in a demand for higher wages. The
doughty leader was arrested. Contrast this wretched pris-
oner with the leaders of present powerful trades unions.
Contrast the administration of the laws at that time with the
recent decision of Judge Barrett of New York, which re-
fuses the injunction asked by the Clothing Manufacturers'
Association to restrain the garment-cutters from issuing
boycotting circulars. The refusal was based on the fact
that the manufacturers were themselves guilty of what they
wished to restrain the employes from doing, and the judge
uttered these remarkable words, **You must come into a
court of equity with clean hands."

In favor of organization as a means of promoting indus-
trial interests I could, were there time, quote to you many
utterances from the wisest and best. I will only say that
Mr. Childs of the Public Ledger, who is said at the first to
have believed labor organization detrimental to the inter-
ests of the employer, had so changed that opinion in 1 886
that he presented the International Typographical Union
with $10,000.

As organization among men has been an instrument in
promoting industrial interests, it becomes us to consider the
status of women with respect to organization. It is not
easy to discover how many women are in existing labor
organizations, because the number belonging to such organ-
izations is not given to the public. It has been estimated
that one-tenth of the members belonging to unions in this
country are women. The mass of women are not organized.
There have been and are some striking examples of organi-

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 619

zation. In 1888 the Hannah Powderly Assembly, Knights
of Labor, numbered eleven hundred women, and is said
practically to have controlled the shoe trade in Cincinnati.
Since then its influence has declined. There were in Phil-
adelphia at one time women in the cigar and tobacco
industry who, as a result of organization, received equal
wages with men doing the same work. All tobacco organi-
zations have declined. There is in Brooklyn a powerful
local union of women hat-finishers belonging to the Inter-
national Hatters* Union. There is a very successful local
union of shirt-makers in the New York Knights of Labor
called the Lady Gothams.

The hotel girls of this country need organization. Efforts
to induce these girls to organize, so far, have been made
without success, excepting in cases where the waiters have
succeeded in persuading the girls whose employments bear
upon their own to organize with them.

The saleswomen in the large cities of the United States
are in great need of organization. The Working- Women's
Club, of which I have the honor to be a delegate, has
striven for three years to introduce a bill into the New York
Legislature for the betterment of the condition of the sales-
women. They are not discouraged. It took as many years
before they succeeded in passing a bill for the appointment
of inspectors ; and the society intends to continue its fight.
If these saleswomen were organized, they would begin
their own legislative fighting, and would be sure of help
from societies of women interested in industrial reform.
Seventy thousand women in New York City alone are
struggling with the problem of subsistence by the needle.
Many of these are underpaid, and with no adequate protec-
tion from exaction or fraud. If even half that number
would combine, what a power they would be !

In the late report of the congressional committee
appointed to . investigate the sweating system, are many
facts given by Dr. Anna S. Daniel, out-of-door physician to
the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. She

620 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

tells of the necktie industry, which is for the most part
confined to tenement houses. A worker can earn the sum
of forty-five cents per day, and have the privilege of finding
her own thread. Frauds are quite common. All advertise-
ments state that women are needed to learn the business,
which will take two or three weeks, after which "wages will
be received. As a matter of fact it can be learned in a few
days, and at the end of two or three weeks the unpaid
workers depart and their places are filled with more victims.

Employers can thus at any time organize women for
their own industrial destruction. Happily, there is a
remedy in counter-organization. In San Francisco, several
years ago, there was a standing advertisement in the papers
for women to learn tailor-sewing, which would take several
weeks. They were encouraged to bring their own sewing
machines. At the end of two or three weeks they were
discharged. A mass-meeting was called and an organiza-
tion formed, one of its paramount motives being to correct
such frauds. There is no need to multiply illustrations.
The great search-light^ industrial reform, has already
flashed into the depths of the dark flood of poverty and
despair and revealed the truth.

What shall we do when we turn from the cold pharisaism
of ancient political economy, with its bleak and pitiless cry
of supply and demand? Organize as fully as possible, and
thus provoke strikes ; but some of our best thinkers upon
economic questions consider organization the ultimate
destruction of strikes.

Organization of working-women for industrial interests
is diflicult. Some say it is impossible to organize the poor-
est working- women needing it the most. Many reasons are
given. One, that women marry and leave the ranks, or that
they are ignorant, and a larger esprit de corps comes only
from education.

Women marry, but they organize for other reforms:
temperance, suffrage, education, literature, art. However,
many women who marry remain breadwinners to their

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. ^ 621

graves, and these permanent paupers are not able to rest
alone in the few feet of earth we should all possess at the
last. It is true that esprit du corps is increased by education,
and there is no better way of promoting organization than
to pass laws in all the States making education to the age
of fourteen compulsory. However, the most ignorant
working-women of the present day are not entirely without
esprit du corps. They help each other. Such reasons as
these I have named are commonly given. Not so commonly
mentioned is the one that, as women have no voice in the
laws controlling their industrial circumstances, they find
organization more difficult than men do. Working-women,
through their misfortune or fault, do not always recognize
this. Some girls withdrew from the Knights of Labor
because their meetings kept them up until twelve o'clock ;
very sensible objection. Besides, there was so much talk
about politics. They were out of political matters, and did
not have sufficient foresight to prepare themselves for
the day when they will be in.

Organize; do not wait for great numbers. Remember
that Uriah S. Stevens, a tailor of Philadelphia, with eight
friends, organized the Knights of Labor. It is the con-
suming fire of earnestness that must bum the stubble of
the present industrial system, and this divine gift is not
confined to great numbers or to great minds. Is it not
true of any reform that not many rich, not many mighty,
not many noble are called ?

And is there nothing for you to do who are not working-
women ? Organize for their protection. Enforce the laws
in their favor. Memorialize legislatures until new laws are
enacted. Is it not discreditable to be a conservative through
tradition or prejudice alone ? Mr. Mallock says : " First
of all, conservatives need increased knowledge and clear-^
ness with regard to economic science." Said Christ,.
**Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye
can discern the face of the sky, but ye can not discern the
signs of the times.*' If there is one successful woman here

41

d22 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

who rejoices merely in the triumphs of her own individ-
ualism, let her glory in the service she may do for others,
to promote the solidarity of humanity, for I declare to you
this only is woman's chief glorj'. Oh, remember that the
industrial interests of woman mean not the interests of the
working people alone, but a higher life for the masses,
using that word not to mean, as it once did, all outside of a
privileged class, but all sorts and conditions of men, the
crowned and the uncrowned, the rich and the poor, the
enlightened and the ignorant. If one member of this great
humanity is oppressed, the whole must suffer.

The Women's Protective and Provident League of
Glasgow — Paper by E. E. Anderson of Scotland.

The Women's Protective and Provident League of Glas-
gow was founded in 1888. It is a union exclusively for
women, and has a membership of over one thousand women
workers drawn from various trades, including weavers,
tailoresses, umbrella-makers, dressmakers, polishers, biscuit-
packers, etc.

The main objects of the Women's Protective and Provi-
dent League are to secure for women workers better wages,
shorter hours, healthy workrooms, aliment in sickness and
want of work, and settlement of trade disputes without
strikes.

The need for women's unions has long attracted the atten-
tion of the more enlightened and far-seeing philanthropic
portion of the community, and it is cause for congratulation
that the prejudices that formerly existed against trades unions
are rapidly dying out, because the best employers regard
them as a useful agency, not alone in the interest of the
worker, but as a defense against the unscrupulous employer,
who undersells his goods in the open market by reducing
his wage-scale to the lowest possible level, and paralyzes the
trade of the master who endeavors to deal justly with his

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 623

employes and give them " a fair day's wage for a fair day's
labor."

To show that women who have to earn their own living
or contribute to the support of their families are compelled
to do so under the hardest possible conditions, we have but
to point to the low wages in the various trades in which
they are employed. In the tailoring trade, for example, for
finishing a pair of men's trousers a competent woman
worker is paid from a penny to four pence half-penny ; for
making a man's vest she is paid one shilling nine pence,
whereas a man receives for the same garment, identical in
every respect, three shillings six pence ; and as to the com-
parative quality of the work, we have the assurance of the
men tailors themselves that fine white vests or black vests
are, as a rule, exclusively made by women, because of their
superior skill.

Umbrella-workers are paid as hemmers and coverers at
the rate of six and one-half pence a dozen.

Shirt-finishers are known also frequently to receive seven
and one-half pence per dozen ; that is, for making the but-
ton-holes, sewing on the buttons, hemming down neckband,
wristbands, gussets, and inside of sleeves, and feathering
the breasts of flannel or tweed shirts.

These are comparatively skilled workers ; but there are
thousands of young women engaged from day to day in
many occupations that yield only starvation wages in
return for a ten or twelve hour day's labor. Among such
are girls employed in confectionery work and jam-making,
who wash jam-pots at four and one-half pence a gross,
standing for hours at a stretch on wet, sloppy floors, and
others who draw the jam from the boiling pots, wheel it in
heavy hand-barrows alongside the stacks of jam-jars and
fill them with the boiling mixture, at a set wage of from
five to seven shillings a week.

In addition to these low wages the workers have fre-
quently to endure the most disgraceful sanitary condi-
tions ; some women, such as are known as hollow-ware

624 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

workers, having to do a great part of their work in the
drying-ovens ; and tailoresses having to work in the employ-
er's premises or in the sweater's den in stifling atmospheres
in which it is impossible to preserve health. We know of
one instance, in an admittedly respectable tailor's shop in
this city of Glasgow, where a young woman was found at
work in a closet a few feet square, of which the only venti-
lation was into the men's lavatory. Of course such con-
ditions are a direct contravention of the Public Health Act,
but it is a well-known fact that women will endure any
amount of suflfering rather than lay themselves open to dis-
covery or suspicion on the part of the employer that may
lead to their summary dismissal. This points to the fur-
ther statement that women workers are their own worst
enemies, and are themselves to blame for the little headway
that the women's unions have made all over the country.
What are the sixty thousand women who have joined
unions for trade protection compared with the great mass
of women workers scattered far and wide over the land ?

While men's unions have secured for them fair remuner-
ation for their day's labor, and many concessions that were
practically unknown twenty or thirty years ago, the women
workers of to-day have yet to learn the value of combi-
nation.

The difficulty of organizing women is almost insuperable
so long as there are found workers who will step in and, for
a miserable pittance, take the place of the female operator
who stands out for a decent wage wherewith to keep soul
and body together.

There are young women by thousands living in their
parents' comfortable homes who are contenMo earn a few
shillings weekly so that they may live more at ease ; others,
the wives and daughters of idle or drunken husbands or
fathers, are compelled to take whatever the employer chooses
to offer ; and widows, with families to support, who have no
choice but to accept the white slavery that the labor market
offers as the only refuge from starvation. Still further,

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 625

there is the natural timidity of women to combat when
endeavoring to organize them. Anything that savors of
resistance, however unjust and ill-conditioned the demands
may be, or any action on their part that may lead to pos-
sible censure from the employer, is a danger too great to
be faced. Thus it is that cheap labor and female labor
are interchangeable terms.

These are but a few of the considerations that led to the
formation of the Glasgow Women's Protective and Provi-
dent League.

Cooperative Housekeeping — Address by Mary
Coleman Stuckert of Illinois.

Mrs. Stuckert concluded an elaborate discussion of the
principles of cooperation as applied to domestic life.

Mrs. Stuckert outlined her own plan for erecting build-
ings that would accommodate a large number of families.
The plan comprises the following points: Forty-four
houses will be built around an oblong block, the houses
varying in size from four to twelve rooms. In the center
of the block will be a building containing on the first floor
a kitchen, laundry, and dining-room ; on the second floor,
apartments for the accommodation of all the help ; on the
third floor, an entertainment hall, library and reading-rooms,
and apartments for kindergartens. From machinery in the
basement of this central building the entire surrounding
block will be heated and lighted. The central building
also contains cold storage and an ice plant. Between the
central building and the surrounding homes extends a large
court, surrounded by a promenade.

The management of the whole is to be consigned to a
board of directors, under whom a superintendent will do
the buying and bookkeeping of the establishment and give
a general supervision to the practical conduct of all the
work carried on in the central building. Only skilled

626 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

cooks who understand the chemistry of food will be em-
ployed. All the help employed will be specialists experi-
enced in their respective departments.

In the laundry, fitted with the latest labor-saving improve-
ments, laundry-work can be done at twenty-five cents per
dozen.

This plan provides for maintaining the absolute separate-
ness of the diflfereht homes, if desired by their respective
proprietors, with whom it will be optional to have food
served in the home or in the general dining-room of the
central building.

Mrs. Stuckert gave in great detail the cost of the building
of such a block, and submitted the architectural designs for
it. She also gave in great detail the cost of living accord-
ing to this plan in varying scales of comfort and elegance,
according to the incomes of the tenants.

Domestic Service and the Family Claim — Address
BY Jane Addams of Illinois.

Ever since we entered upon the industrial revolution of
the eighteenth century, factory labor, work done in fac-
tories, has been increasingly competing in the open market
with household labor — work done in private houses. Taking
out of account women with little children or invalids depend-
ent upon them, to whom both factory and household labor
are impossible and who are practically confined to the sew-
ing trades, to all untrained women seeking employment a
choice is open between these two forms of labor. There are
few women so dull that they can not paste labels on a box
or do some form of factory work ; few so dull that some per-
plexed housekeeper will not receive them, at least for a
trial, into the household. Household labor, then, has to
compete with factory labor not only in point of hours, in
point of permanency of employment, in point of wages, but in
point of the advantage it affords for family and social

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 627

life ; and all women seeking employment more or less con-
sciously compare the two forms of labor in all these points.

The three points are easily disposed of. First : In regard
to hours there is no doubt that the factory has the advan-
tage. The average factory hours are from seven in the
morning to six in the evening, with a chance of working
over-time, which, in busy seasons, means until nine o'clock.
This leaves most of the evenings and Sundays free. The
average hours of household labor are from six in the morn-
ing to eight at night, with little difference in seasons. There
is one afternoon a week, with an occasional evening, but
Sunday is never wholly free.

Second : In regard to permanency of position the advan-
tage is found clearly on the side of the household employ^.

Third. In regard to wages the household is again fairly
ahead, if we consider not alone the money received but also
the opportunity offered for saving money. This is greater
among household employes, because they do not pay board,
the clothing required is simpler, and the temptation to
spend money in recreation is less frequent. The average
minimum wage paid an adult in household labor may be
fairly put at two dollars and fifty cents a week ; the maxi-
mum at six dollars, this excluding the comparatively rare
opportunities for women to cook at forty dollars a month and
the housekeeper's position at fifty dollars a month. The
factory wages, viewed from the savings bank point of view,
may be smaller in the average, but this I believe to be
counterbalanced in the minds of the employes by the
greater chance which the factory offers for increased wages.
A girl over sixteen seldom works in a factory for less than
four dollars a week, and she always cherishes the hope of
being at last a forewoman with a permanent salary of from
fifteen to twenty-five dollars a week. Whether she attains
this or not she runs a fair chance, after serving a practical
apprenticeship, of earning ten dollars a week as a skilled
worker. A girl finds it easier to be content with four dol-
lars a week when she pays for board, with a scale of wages

628 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

rising toward ten dollars, than to be content with four
dollars a week and board, the scale of wages rising toward
six dollars ; and the girl well knows that there are scores
of liberally paid forewomen at fifteen dollars a week for
one forty-dollar cook or fifty-dollar housekeeper. In many
cases this position is well taken economically, for, although
the opportunity for saving may be better for the employ^
in the household than in the factory, her family saves
more when she works in a factory and lives with them.
The rent is no more when she is at home. The two dollars
and fifty cents which she pays into the family fund more
than covers the cost of her actual food, and at night she can
often contribute toward the family labor by helping her
mother wash and sew.

This brings us easily to the fourth point of comparison,
that of the possibilities afforded for family life. It is well
to remember that women, as a rule, are devoted to their
families ; that they want to live with their parents, their
brothers and sisters, and kinsfolk, and will sacrifice a good
deal to accomplish this. This devotion is so universal that
it is impossible to ignore it when we consider women as
employes. Young unmarried women are not detached from
family claims and requirements as young men are, and, so
far as my observation goes, are more ready and steady in
their response to the needs of the aged parents and helpless
members of the family. But women performing labor in
households have peculiar difficulties in enjoying family life,
and are more or less dependent upon their employers for
possibilities to see their relatives and friends. Curiously
enough, the same devotion to the family life and quick
response to its claims on the part of the employer operate
against the girl in household labor, and places her in the
unique position of isolation. The employer of household
labor, to preserve her family life intact and free from
intrusion, acts inconsistently in her zeal, and grants to her
cook, for instance, but once or twice a week such oppor-
tunity for untrammeled association with her relatives as the

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS.

employer's family claims constantly. So strongly is the
employer imbued with the sanctity of her own family life
that this sacrifice of the cook's family life seems to her per-
fectly justifiable. If one chose to be jocose one might say
that it becomes almost a religious devotion, in which the
cook figures as a burnt oflfering and the kitchen range as
the patriarchal altar.

This devotion to family life the men of the family also
share. A New York gentleman who lunches at Del-
monico's eats food cooked by a cook with a salary of
five thousand dollars a year. He comes home hungry,
and with a tantalizing memory of the lunch, to a dinner
cooked by a cook who is paid at most forty dollars a
month. The contrast between lunch and dinner is great,
and the solace of the family is needed to make the
dinner endurable, but the aforesaid gentleman quiets dis-
content with the reflection that in eating a dinner cooked
by an individual cook they are in some occult manner
cherishing the sanctity of the family life, though his keen
business mind knows full well that in actual money he is
paying more for his badly cooked dinner than for his well-
cooked lunch.

To return from the digression — this peculiar isolation
of the household. In addition to her isolation from her
family, a woman finds all the conditions of her social life
suddenly changed when she enters the service of a house-
hold. It is well to remember that the household employes
for the better quarters of the city and the suburbs are
largely drawn from the poorer quarters, which are noth-
ing if not gregarious. The girl is born and reared in a
tenement house full of children. She knows them almost
as well as she knows her brothers and sisters, and plays
with them almost as constantly. She goes to school, and
there learns to march, to read, and to write in constant
companionship with forty other children. If she lives at
home until she is old enough to go to parties, those she
goes to are mostly held in a public hall and are crowded

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

with dancers. If she works in a factory she walks home
with many other girls, in much the same spirit as she form-
erly walked to school with them. Most of the young men
she knows are doing much the same sort of work, and she
mingles with them in frank economic and social equality.
If she is a cloak-maker, for instance, she will probably marry
a cutter, who is a man with a good trade, and who runs a
chance of some day having a shop of his own. In the
meantime she remains at home, with no social break or
change in her family and social life.

If she is employed in a household this is not true. Sud-
denly all the conditions of her life are changed. The
individual instead of the gregarious instinct is appealed to.
The change may be wholesome for her, but it is not easy ;
and the thought of the savings bank does not cheer us much
when we are twenty. She is isolated from the people with
whom she has been reared, with whom she has gone to
school, with whom she has danced, and among whom she
expects to live when she marries. She is naturally lonely
and constrained.

Added to this is a social distinction, which she feels
keenly, against her and in favor of the factory girls, in the
minds of the young men of her acquaintance. A woman
who has worked in households for twenty years told me that
when she was a young and pretty nurse-girl the only young
men who paid her attention were coachmen and unskilled
laborers. The skill in the trades of her suitors increased as
her position in the household increased in dignity. When
she was a housekeeper, forty years old, skilled mechanics
appeared, one of whom she married. Women seeking em-
ployment understand perfectly well this feeling, quite
unjustifiable, I am willing to admit, among mechanics, and
it acts as a strong inducement toward factory labor.

I have long since ceased to apologize for the views and
opinions of working-people. I am quite sure that, on the
whole, they are just about as wise and just about as foolish
as the views and opinions of other people; but that this

INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS. 631

particularly foolish opinion of young mechanics is widely
shared by the employing class can be demonstrated easily.
It is only necessary to remind you of the number of
Chicago night schools for instruction in stenography, in
t3rpe writing, telegraphy, bookkeeping, and all similar occupa-
tions, fitting girls for office work, and the meager number
provided for acquiring skill in household work.

The contrast is further accentuated by the better social
position of the office girl, and the advantages which
she shares with factory girls, of lunch clubs, social clubs,
and vacation homes, from which girls performing house-
hold labor are practically excluded by their hours of work,
their geographical situation, and a curious feeling that they
are not as interesting as factory girls.

CHAPTER XL— THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN

INTERESTS.

ILLUSTRATED BY THE PROGRESS OF WOMEN IN SPAIN, IN
THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES, IN ENGLAND AND HER
DEPENDENCIES, IN POLAND, ITALY, SIAM, ICELAND, AND
SYRIA, AND BY THE PROGRESS OF WOMEN OF AFRICAN
DESCENT IN TrfE UNITED STATES.

Pexfatory Comment by the Editor — Copious Extracts from Addresses
Delivered in the General Congress by Isabblle Bogelot, Cal-
lirrhOe Parren, Catalina de Alcala, Matildb G. db Miro Quesada,
Martha-Sbsselberg, Isabel King, Helen Blackburn, C. C. Montefiore,
Mary McDonell, A. M. Blakely, Prof. Helen Webster, Fannie
Barrier Williams, Sarah J. Early, Nico Beck-Meyer, Rev. Amanda
Deyo, May French*-Sheldon, and Helena Modjeska; Very Brief
Extracts from Discussions of these Addresses by Mrs. John Harvie,
Emily Cummings, Kirstine Frederiksen, Anna J. Cooper, Fannik
Jackson Coppin. Hallie Q. Brown, and Lizzie Kirkpatrick — Ab-
stracts OF Addresses Prepared for the General Congress by Fanny
Zampini-Salazar, Sofia Bompiani. Lady Linchee Suriya. Sigridr.
MagnOsson, and Hanna K. Korany.
•

IN this chapter the reader will meet witnesses convened
from all civilized parts of the earth, unconsciously
testifying to the proposition contained in the title of
the first address.

This chapter proves that the woman question is no longer
an Americanism ; that it is no longer a local question at
all; that it can not be regarded as the curious culminating
expression of the insane passion for independence char-
acteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race.

Here we find the representatives of that race whose
women are most addicted to coquetry, and of that whose
men most keenly feel that their personal dignity is con-

(6K)

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 633

ditioned upon the absolute dependence and seclusion of the
women of their faipilies, uttering opinions and sentiments
familiar only to those Americans who frequent conventions
and public assemblies. Here we find Afro-Americans, but
one generation from personal bondage, demanding the
same freedom of thought and action that is innate in the
Saxon.

Stranger still, an Af ro- American * who was herself a slave
discusses with temperance and without bitterness the social,
intellectual, and industrial status of her race.

The representatives of every nationality claim the free
exercise of personal judgment ; they demand that the whole
contention regarding the propriety of a woman's doing this
or that work shall be determined by her ability. They
demand equal pay for equal work. They demand for both
sexes the same moral standard. They demand the highest
development of the individual, not only as in itself a noble
end, but as a means to the highest development of the race
and the highest happiness of society.

They all see not only the reciprocal dependence of men
and women, but also the reciprocal dependence of all classes
of women, and of all women in any class ; and, therefore,
they all recommend organized eflfort as the surest, the most
direct, the most cultivating means to the highest ends. In
this chapter greater significance lies between the lines than
upon them, and it is commended to those " who have eyes
to see.**— [The Editor.]

* Fannie Jackson Coppin was bom a slave, and remained in that state
until she was thirteen years old, when an aunt, who had already purchased
her own freedom, bought the young girl for one hundred and seventy-five
dollars. Fannie graduated from Oberlin College in the classical course
(what was then called the *' gentlemen's course **) in 1865, taking the A. B.
degree. She is now entitled to the A. M. degree.

634 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The Solidarity of Human Interests— Address by

ISABELLE BOGELOT OF PaRIS, FrANCE, REPRESENTATIVE
OF THE CEUVRE DES Lib6r6eS DE St. LaZARE, AND TREAS-
URER OF THE International Council of Women.

When the mail from America on the 27th of last Jan-
uary brought me an invitation to speak in the name of my
countrywomen on the subject " Solidarity des Intirits de
rHumanit^y* I felt a deep sense of gratitude to the friends
in America who thus expressed their confidence and great
sympathy by inviting me to speak on a subject so grand.

But with the rapidity of lightning I became conscious of
my inability to treat a subject so vast, so important. I had
in my memory the magnificent meetings held in Washing-
ton in 1888. I felt afraid, but nevertheless I accepted the
task which was offered me.

Why did I feel a boldness that did not shrink before so
heavy a responsibility — why, if I also felt fear ?

The reason for that assurance came entirely from the
very title of the subject. The word solidarity enlightened
me at once and showed me precisely the way on which I
was to proceed. "My friends of France,** said I, "will
work with me ; they will help me. We shall make a col-
lective work, to which each of us shall bring her own
personal eflfort. I shall give my practical experience about
the works in which I labor. They, my friends, detained by
other duties in their homes, will intrust to me the papers
which they prepare for the different sections of the congress
to which they promise their co5peration. I shall represent
them ; I shall be their delegate."

The moment I looked upon the work thus as collective,
my fears disappeared, a great peace came over me, and I
was quite happy to feel that my response was crossing
the ocean which should say to you, " I accept, count upon
me, in May I shall be with you at my post."

To-day I ask your indulgence for the weakness of the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 636

work which I have the great honor to read to you. Count
upon my love of justice and my good intentions ; they are
all that I personally can offer you.

Five years ago, when I had the good inspiration to come to
you, I was chosen by the CEuvre des Lib6r6es de St. Lazare,
a work not of science but of pity and justice ; and it was to
speak of the prisoners whose most unfortunate condition
would be ameliorated could all our claims be secured. I
came to tell you simply, " We are with you. Lei us con-
tinue to struggle for the enfranchisement of women. We
see misery most horrible and oftentimes undeserved in the
prisons. It is the effect of a social state that must be
modified. The women prisoners are very often the result
of the prejudice and injustice which are crushing our sex."

At that time I was the only Frenchwoman among you.
None of those who had struggled to obtain the reforms
awaited and desired with so much impatience accompanied
me. Why this chance which had assigned to me a part for
which I was so little prepared ? Was it chance ? No, I do
not think so. Every effect has a cause and comes in its
own good time. The work of prison reform, which gener-
ally meets with so little sympathy, but nevertheless is of
such importance, since it studies the human heart, ought to
receive some honor after having been despised for so long
a time. The work brings to light moral suffering in its full
extent; it probes all wounds; it is a field of experience
where all thinkers can come to study the necessary reforms
which we are advocating in this Congress. The work of
prison reform is bound to all other social questions. It
makes an appeal to all the sentiments ; it personifies the
spirit of solidarity. This is why this work of the Lib6r6es
de St. Lazare, which appeared so modest, but which we
found so great by reason of the object which it pursues,
came to America to speak in the name of pity, of justice,
and of solidarity. It was guided toward you by that same
justice which assigns to each the place which he is to
occupy.

636 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Five years have passed since that first meeting, since the
clasping of hands which made our hearts one.

America and France are old allies. They have fought
under the same standard^ the blood of the two peoples has
been shed on the same battle-fields in the name of liberty,
of that liberty which in the loftiest and most absolute sense
means justice and solidarity. Several among you are of
French origin, and the names of the two republics are
inseparably joined. There are imperishable memories
which belong to the fortune and history of the two nations.
These memories give me courage to speak in this assembly.

It is a pleasure to bring to life all the glorious past in
this moment when we are celebrating the fourth centennial
of the discovery of the New World in this Art Palace
inaugurated by the Woman's Congress which shall be one
continued series of successes. What glory for America
that this is the woman's congress which is opening the
series of meetings that will never be forgotten ! What a
pleasure for France, which proclaimed the rights of men
one hundred years ago, to celebrate at such a festival by
raising its voice in this palace here to advocate with you
the equality of the sexes and the rights of woman !

Thanks to the grand Congress at which we are present,
the century which is drawing to a close will realize that
beautiful motto of our ancestors ; for true solidarity includes
the three words, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, which in
the last century sent a thrill throughout the Old and New
Worlds. The solidarity of human interests does not admit
of a doubt. A good or a bad idea, a progress or a recoil
in the amelioration of the condition of men or of women
never occurs in vain. The wished-for hour comes, the re-
quired psychological moment, the being predestined to be
the propagator and popularizer appears, and the idea de-'
velops and produces its consequences. At this time, when
steam and electricity have eliminated distances, nothing can
happen among one people that does not have its echo
among all the others. An injustice can not occur in any

• • . • ••

• • • •

• • •• •

• ••* • •••

• • •.• *

.•• •

Fannii: Hakruk Wii.i.iams. Prof. Hki.kn L. Websier.

Sarah J. VV. Early.

Kiksiim: I'ridkkicksen. Fanny Za.mpini Saeazar.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 637

comer whatsoever of the civilized world which will not
soon have to be suffered elsewhere. A lovely deed, a just
idea, can not be enjoyed in one country whose good effects
are not also felt by others. Without our having to yield
our citizenship in the fatherland, without being what they
call cosmopolitan, there are side by side with those interests
of one's country, I might almost say above them, the
greater interests of entire humanity which we can no longer
ignore.

So we are all one, without distinction of nationality, when
it is a matter of humanity.

The question of the place which woman ought to occupy
in the world is a general question which joins us all together.
The progress which is attained by one country can not help
being shared with others. And it is for this reason that we
have come from all countries of the Old and New Worlds to
say to you, " We are with you to work for the amelioration
of the condition of woman, to take counsel as to the best
means of attaining our end, to combine and organize our
efforts in order that, the work being better regulated, the
results may be obtained the more quickly." Let no one
deceive himself with the thought that the work which you
are undertaking, and in which we have come to join our
forces, is, although it has sometimes been so called, a strug-
gle to be engaged in between the sexes.

No; it is the restitution of normal or regular rights,
oftentimes ignored, but which exist none the less imper-
ishable.

When our end shall be attained, the other sex will not be
the loser, and, with everything brought back to its proper
place, it is humanity as a whole that will be benefited. To
obtain this result will require many years ; but solidarity
among the women of all nations will realize it sooner per-
haps than we ourselves think.

I close by bringing to your notice the works which I
mentioned to you in the beginning : first, the discourse on
altruism and solidarity written by our friend Madame

42

638 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Emilie de Morsier, my associate during seventeen years,
and vice-president of the CEuvre des Lib^r^es de St.
Lazare, of which I am the directress and official delegate.

I ought to g^ve special mention to Marie Deraismes,*
having passed the most beautiful years of my youth in her
family. It was, as I had the pleasure of telling you in 1888
in the Congp-ess at Washington, at her school that I received
my education; I am most happy to repeat it in this great
International Congress of Women. I am proud to call
myself her pupil. We have worked together for the better-
ment of the condition of women, following each the way
that her aptitudes, character, and temperament directed.

Having spoken of the living, permit me to recall the
memory of two departed ones whom I have deeply loved,
and with whom, also, I have worked, Caroline de Barrau of
France and Concepcion Arenal of Spain. The latter died
only three months ago. She charged me officially to repre-
sent her here, and to offer to you her last work which was
dedicated to our reform, ** Le Manuel du Visiteur du Pris-
onier." f Her son is piously having the manuscripts pre-
pared which his mother left.

Let us not forget Leon Richer, who during twenty-three
years defended the cause of woman, and who did not quit
the field of battle until forced by age and sickness. My
last word shall be for my husband, M. Bogelot, known by
several among you, who has helped me in all my labors.
He is following attentively from afar all that is being said
during this Congress.

I lay upon the table : ist. A complete collection of bulle-
tins of our society, in the name of my colleagues. 2d. The
collection of Journal dcs Femmes, of which Marie Martin, our
friend, is the founder and director. 3d. The articles by Mme.
Potoni6 Pierre on the group of the Solidarity des Femmes, of
which she and Marie Martin are the founders and secretaries.
4th. A diagram by Mme. Griess Traut, whose object is to indi-

• Since deceased.

f Translated at this date into three languages.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 639

cate the means of avoiding war, at the same time respecting
the interests of all those who have embraced military careers.
Destructive armies, she says, can be transformed into pro-
ductive armies, and she denionstrates this by the adjoined
table, which is excellently compiled. 5th. An account
rendered in detail of the patronage of young apprentices of
the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris, founded and directed by
Mme. Marie Breon. 6th. I present to the Women's Library
a work in two volumes, ** La Femme Affranchie," by Jenny
d'Herincourt, who resided in Chicago thirty years ago. It
is to pay a debt to her memory that I pronounce her name,
and only to bring from France this work for the cause of
women is to make her live again.

The Solidarity of Human Interests — An Address
BY CallirrhOe Parren of Athens, Greece.

Let us leave traditions and come to history. The golden
age of Greece is due to Aspasia. Sculpture, the divine art
of Praxitiles, was understood by Kora of Corinth. Lalla,
the woman painter of Kyzychos, was the mistress of ApoUo-
Theano, the first pupil of Pythagoras, attended his school
and gave lessons with such perfection that Pythagoras
himself was jealous. Sappho was distinguished as the
greatest poet of her time, while Korinna was seven times
victorious over Pindar. Women philosophers were counted
by hundreds. To these women Greece owes her wisest;
most distinguished, most heroic men.

The Spartan mother said to her son as he took his shield
to go to battle, " Come back with it or upon it." With their
incomparable patriotism and their greatness of soul, they
rendered small Sparta the most warlike place of the world.

Greece falls, and Rome succeeds it. She is prosperous
and strong while her men are educated by Cornelias. She
becomes weak and falls when her wives and mothers are
Agrippinas and Marcelinas.

640 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The people of the West and the North have been devel-
oped, civilized, and strengthened by their reverence for
women. But in this general regeneration of the European
people what has become of oppressed Greece ? Has it been
lost? Has it degenerated? Has it been extinguished?
No. The women are awake. The women are preserving
its language, its customs, and its traditions. The Chris-
tianity which they embraced, and for the improvement of
which they have worked more than all else, as orators,
reformers, and apostles, has given to them strength for the
great work of patriotism. The milk of patriotism and
Christianity with which they have nurtured their children
is the blood which the children have afterward shed for
their faith and their country.

There is in Greece a rocky comer, a wild, precipitous
spot, upon which the green grass never grows. The land
there seems to be in mourning and unable to bear flowers.
There is a precipitous rock under which flows a foaming
river, the frightful precipices yawning like black tombs.
They have served as witnesses of a feminine heroism which
history has only once recorded. There the later Greek
women, our foremothers, have danced the dance of death,
singing the song of liberty ; they have thrown themselves
down upon the rocks from the frightful precipices, prefer-
ring with their children an honorable death rather than
life in an enslaved country.

From the first years of our independence we have been
united quite fraternally with you. On the ramparts of the
Acropolis the Turkish minaret was still elevated, and the
sentinel was announcing the hours of prayer, when an
American lady, who was the first educated woman that
came to Greece, established, with her husband. Doctor Hill of
blessed memory, the first school for the education of Greek
girls. In that school, which to-day is still doing excellent
work, most of my companions have been educated. In the
volume on distinguished Greek women which I am writing,
one of the first places is held by this woman of American

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 641

origfin, who became the intellectual mother of so many
Greeks.

But besides this lady many progressive Greek women
have established schools from which have gone forth
during recent years many distinguished women, sculp-
tors, writers, poets, of whom the strangers that visit
Greece speak with enthusiasm. Our great men formerly
worked more for the education of women than they do
now. This has not prevented us from advancing. We
have overcome opposition and set aside prejudices. Our
government has given us only the most elementary edu-
cation. We are establishing private schools and preparing
ourselves for the university, which scarcely two years ago
opened its doors to us. But before this was accomplished,
when that of our own country was closed against us, many
of us sought other European universities. Thus we have
to-day ten women who are devoted to scientific, philological,
medical, and pedagogic pursuits, and four young girls are
now going to the University of Athens.

I am myself, the first Greek woman editor. For seven
years I have issued a woman's journal. Its articles are
written exclusively by women, but they are read by a good
many men. The object of my paper is the education of
women and the education of the public in respect to
women. I set forth continually in its columns your march
in civilization and your stirring activities. I publish the
lives of the distinguished women of the world. I exhort
women to energetic work, by which alone complete happi-
ness can be secured in this world. I do not ask for the
political rights of women, because for us this question is
premature ; but when the law is unjust to us, we attack the
law-makers. I am working now for the establishment of
an industrial school for girls, and I hope that I shall be
able to succeed by next September. As the first woman
editor, I have suffered many attacks and combated many
prejudices, and many times have been reproached and
assailed ; but all this has been forgotten in the absorbing

642 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

object which I have had before me, and in the results which
I have attained. My youngest sister has established lately
a new woman's paper, under the title The Home, in which
she will seek to promote the practical, technical, and indus-
trial education of women.

Besides my paper, I have published the results of many
other studies. During the past year I have begun to pub-
lish the history of woman from prehistoric times to our
own day. It is a great work, for which for ten years I have
been gathering material in the libraries of Europe. It will
be composed of twelve large volumes, and will reveal the
remarkable influence of women upon the fortunes of peo-
ples and nations. The Greek and the French press have
received my first volume with the warmest approval. I
have treated therein only the women of prehistoric times
and the women of China and India. Five more volumes,
relating to women of ancient times down to the Roman
period, are ready for the press, and then will follow the
Middle Ages. I am working now upon contemporary
women. To American women, who now are holding the
reins of progress, and who are in advance of all Europeans,
I shall devote a large volume. In this endeavor I invite
your cooperation and your aid. As far as you are able,
furnish me with notes, information, and biographies. My
work will be translated into both French and English. I
hope it will receive your support. In such labors we must
all join hands and support one another.

But let us return to the activity of women in Greece.
Political rights are denied to us altogether. We enjoy but
few liberties. Work in public offices, in the arts and manu-
factures is closed to us. But we have united ourselves, and
have worked, as you have, for the advancement of women.
I represent here ten women's organizations of my country'.
The most of them are under the protection of the queen.
All of them are philanthropic or educational. A house of
industry, founded by women, gives employment to nearly
five hundred poor women, and work is developed here to

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 643

the highest degree of perfection. A large hospital, the
Evangelismos, established and directed by women, fur-
. nishes shelter and care to a large number of the sick. An
orphan asylum for girls, with three million drachmas
endowment, was established and directed by women. A
hospital for incurables, of which I am one of the found-
ers, was established by the King's Daughters, a branch of
the great organization in America. In a Sunday-school
which I have established, and which is under the presi-
dency of her majesty, the queen, four hundred working-
girls receive instruction every Sunday in reading, writing,
arithmetic, religion, history, hygiene, and domestic economy.
There is also an institution for working-women and serv^-
ants, of which I am one of the organizers and general
secretary. A society for the education and reformation of
youthful prisoners has been established, and is directed by
women, under the presidency of her majesty, the queen.
There is also a central society of friends of the poor, estab-
lished and directed by women, and a society for the care of
convalescents.

In industry the private initiative of women has wrought
miracles. Embroidery, artificial flowers, the making of
mats and Grecian carpets, millinery and dressmaking
employ a large number of women.

The Greek woman works energetically and with results.
If the false, enervating, frivolous, and luxurious life of the
salon could show fewer victims, certainly our situation
would be better. Vain and selfish women are the greatest
and most implacable enemies of our cause, and of humanity
in general. They contribute by the education which they
give to their sons to the degradation and degeneration
of men themselves. Against these women we all, and
especially the progressive women of Europe, must unite
our forces, because this pernicious class exists in Europe
more extensively than in America. The cause of woman,
about which you have asked my opinion, will fully suc-
ceed when the form of education which produces this

644 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

class of women ceases. All women who are wielding the
pen for the emancipation of our sex, and all who can exer-
cise any influence upon the fortunes of women, must attack
this vain, false, selfish, and pernicious education. We shall
never obtain liberty, nor rights, nor equality while such
mothers and wives inspire the men through whom we
expect our fortunes to be bettered.

Fortunately the number of such women is growing less
every day in Greece. While the education of women is
still behind in many things, the greater part of the wealthy
and fortunate classes have rid themselves of this vanity.

To you, O American women ! lovers of progress, we
look with hope. You are in the van ; you are the flag-
bearers.

Women in Spain for the Last Four Hundred Years —
Address by Catalina d'Alcala of Spain.

I salute all the women of this great republic, and their glo-
rious flag, the stars and stripes, designed by a woman. In
tracing the pages of the past we find that each nation has
had some special mission for women to perform. To
America has been intrusted the privilege of developing the
highest qualities of womanly character and granting unre-
strained action to them.

In carrying out the duty assigned me of reviewing the
women of my country from the beloved Isabella's time, I
must briefly notice the history of Spain previous to that
illustrious reign and on down to the present day. For
several hundred years after the great Saracen invasion
Spain was broken up into a number of small but independ-
ent states, divided in their interests and often in deadly
hostility with one another. The country was inhabited by
races the most dissimilar in their origin, religion, and
government, the least important of which has exerted a
sensible influence on the character and institutions of the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 646

present inhabitants. They regarded each other with a
fiercer hatred than that with which they viewed the
enemies of their faith. More Christian blood was wasted
in these national feuds than in all their encounters with
the infidels. The zeal which did at last unite them in a
common warfare against the invaders was inevitably that
of a religious fanaticism. The arts used by the ecclesiast-
ical leaders to control the common people naturally resulted
in giving Spain the deep tinge of superstition which has
ever distinguished her among the nations of Europe. Yet
our historians tell us that whatever were the vices of the
Spaniards at that date they were not those of eflfeminate
sloth. The privations which they had suffered at the hands
of the spoilers had developed in them many hardy, sober
qualities. It was under these conditions that the character
of Isabella was formed. That with all her admirable virt-
ues she had inherited some of the prevailing fanaticism
is true. The fact that such a reign, so successful in bring-
ing about the union of many conflicting elements and stimu-
lating special enterprises, was not followed by the permanent
elevation of Isabella's own sex, points to some firmly fixed
retarding influence in the economy of the nation. What the
Spaniards have already accomplished in the way of learning
and development of the higher mental and moral qualities
is truly marvelous, in the face of all the obstacles they have
been forced to encounter.

It is well known that Isabella, as soon as she could bring
order out of the chaos in which she found the government,
devoted herself diligently to educational matters ; and,
stimulated by her noble and intellectual influence, the
women contributed much to the general illumination of that
period. Female education embraced a broader field in the
ancient languages than is common now. The learning of
the women equaled their piety, and, far from contenting
themselves with superficial attainments, they held professor-
ships of Latin and rhetoric, and widened the domain of
philosophical speculation. The queen's instructor in Latin

646 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

was a woman, Doiia Galindo. Another light was Isabel Losa.
She mastered Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, and founded the
hospital of Loretto. Sigea Aloysia of Toledo wrote letters
to the pope in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Syrian.
Even poetry and romance were not shunned by the gentler
sex. Indeed, so strong became woman's position under
this wonderful reign that Isabel de Rosores was permitted
to preach in the great church in Barcelona. However, in
this period, as ever since, a mistake was made in import-
ing so many foreign teachers for the youth, thus bringing
a mixture of ideas and influences, confusing national char-
acteristics and depressing individual identity. Educational
authorities everywhere claim the benefits of native instruc-
tors, the lack of whom truly has been a curse to Spain.
With Isabella's death departed much of the wisdom of her
administration, and the unstable rulers we have since had
give rise to the saying that the royal palace became an
insane asylum. Yet we find that many women of the time
of Charles V. were noted for their political ability. All
were eminently domestic in their homes — sewing, embroid-
ering, and compounding home-made remedies for all known
infirmities.

Spain can boast of having produced heroines from the
earliest records of history. Agostina of Saragossa, with
her courage and fortitude, imparted strength to the droop-
ing soldiers when the French were mowing down our men
like grass ; then did this Spanish maid give victory to her
old town. The new government adopted by our neighbors
crossed the Pyrenees and inflamed the revolutionary spirit
in us. The contest was waged upon the battle-field and in
society, and reflected in the character of woman, through
whom it entered into family life. Women and men felt
alike. They were Catholics, Royalists, and Spaniards;
enemies to everything foreign. For this reason the part
played by woman in defense against the French was no
less active than by man. When the Spanish woman sees
her country in danger, she exhibits the indomitable heart

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 647

of a true patriot. Yet we have no female party, and since
the conclusion of the last civil war women have paid no
attention to public affairs. Gradually our position has
gone down until at the present day men dominate in every-
thing. Each new conquest made by man in the field
renders the role of women more passive and confined.
Educational freedom and the whole parliamentary system
only serve to transfer that power to one-half of society
which the other half is losing steadily. You may ask what
has brought about this change. Spain is a country of
reactions. One extreme follows another. In the time of
the first Isabella, women were preeminent. The second
Isabella found them at the lowest point in the scale of
public influence.

The Spaniard is a jealous being. He has suspiciously
watched the late marvelous achievements of women in
other nations. He is like a child, inclined to act contrary to
the thing his attention is called to. In old times there were
so many '* woman's movements " he thought little about
being excelled. Now in the present age of broad ideas he
realizes the danger; that unless he strictly defines woman's
position she may excel him, not only in intellectual attain-
ments, but in political management.

The women of Spain are divided into four classes, those
of the royal family, the nobility, the middle, and the
lower class or peasantry. The daughters of the nobility
as a rule are superficially educated, speak a little poor
French and dabble in music and painting. Those of the
middle class are great imitators of the nobility, although
no amount of money will admit them to court society with-
out the badge of a government office. A poor government
clerk on two hundred a year can dance with a duchess,
whereas the family of a millionaire without official position
is excluded from the aristocracy. The women of this class
are for the most part educated in convents. The peasant
woman is truly a child of nature, with goodness of heart,
caring for all who come within her reach, sharing her

648 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

last morsel with Christian or heretic, and never accepting
any remuneration. Be she rich or poor, the heart of the
Spanish woman is a vast storehouse of Christian gp-aces,
cheerfulness, devotion, simplicity, and self-denial. The
home influence is to-day what it always has been, pure
and ennobling. Spanish women, so far as devotion is
concerned, are model wives and mothers. When a woman
once accepts a man's heart or his name she will die rather
than be unfaithful.

Divorces are almost unknown. The uncertainty attend-
ing domestic life in some ot;her nations is not felt in Spain.
The family relation when once formed is permanent.
Whatever may be said against the authority of the church
in affairs of state, all must admit that its control in family
matters has a salutary effect on the social fabric. When
even a member of the demi-monde marries, which fre-
quently occurs, she never returns to her previous life, but
remains true to her family ties. I may say right here that
this class of women is not nearly so numerous in Spain as
is generally supposed, and fewer still would be the depart-
ures from rectitude if there were as many avenues of self-
support open to women there as in the United States.
Women are taught from childhood to depend on their
natural protectors. In Spain every man expects to pro-
vide for some woman of his household ; if not for a wife
or daughter, then for a mother or sister.

Necessity makes the opportunity. The fact that so many
women are self-supporting in America does not argue favor-
ably for the gallantry or ability of the men. The few Span-
ish women who are thrown upon their own resources
scarcely know where to turn for an honest living. House-
work and cigar-making are their principal occupations.
Even sewing is not much of a public employment, as the
majority of women, both of the wealthy and the poorer
classes make their own garments. They do not care for
reading or any other mental improvement, so how else
should they spend their time but in sewing ? Much of the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 649

needlework is done by the nuns in the convents. There
is no other country able to furnish such fine work in this
particular.

Those who have not the health or inclination to become
servants turn to the factories. The dgarette-makers are
deserving of more sympathy than they receive. Many of
them are true-hearted women with children to support, and
they rock the cradle with grace and tenderness while they
roll the cigars. The stage does not include as many classes
of women as it does in almost any other country, for the
reason that when a Spanish actress marries she always
retires. The reports -^Vhich have been circulated concerning
our hospitals are sadly untrue. They have been for many
years past conducted by women, and the Spanish Sister of
Charity has proven herself to be a superior nurse. The
prisons of Spain include one exclusively for women, which
is said to be well managed by the sisters, and is never, I am
glad to add, overcrowded.

A woman's resources are naturally limited in proportion
as her education is restricted. The great need of Spain is
widespread primary instruction. A compulsory law was
enacted in 1877 for children between the ages of six and
nine, free schooling being provided for the poor ; but the
law is not enforced, and even if it were, its provisions are
too meager to meet the wants of a practical education.
The universities are open only to men. Educated college
women are the exception, not the rule, and the number of
university-educated women is very small.

I do not wish to leave the impression that there is no
longer any intellectual individuality or personal ambition
among my countrywomen. Their meager advantages, their
scanty education, their few chances to mingle on equal terms
with the talented and good of the opposite sex have brought
down upon them a long night of darkness. But we shall
emerge from the shadows.

650 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Woman's Position in the South American States—
Address by Matilde G. de Miro Quesada of Lima,
Peru.

Whether woman be considered as the mainspring of
domestic life, or as a mere auxiliary force intended to
lift up the many small obstacles that encumber the
field of man's labor and force him to waste his energies,
her cooperation is undoubtedly a most essential part of
man's success in his struggle for life. Whenever he feels
exhausted and worn out by the painful strife, or inclined
to succumb to the pressure of persistent adversity or deliber-
ate injustice, the glowing warmth of woman's aflFection, and
not seldom her own example, give him renewed courage
and fresh hope, or the tranquil submission of conscious
dignity and manly endurance combined. The share thus
assigned by nature to the weaker sex in the work of life
is more or less comprehensive in every country, according
to the race, the stage of civilization, the soil and climate,
and other conditions arising from local or transient causes.
Our American continent exhibits in this respect so curious
and striking a contrast that I deem it to be one of the most
interesting and useful subjects of study; yet I will not
venture in this paper beyond a few general remarks such as
the sympathy for my own sex and the natural aspiration
for the welfare of mankind may suggest to one who is
neither a philosopher nor a political expert. It would be
idle to discuss the faculties and conditions common to all
members of womankind. Therefore I will confine my ob-
servations to the position of the Anglo-American woman
and that of her sister in the Spanish-American States. In
order to obtain a correct appreciation of the latter's con-
dition it will be necessary to bear in mind the influence
exerted by many circumstances appertaining to ancient
times, as well as the action of more recent and immediate
causes. The bulk of the Spanish-American population is

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 6ol

mainly composed of two elements: first, the descendants
of the Spanish conquerors ; second, the native Indian races
of Central and South America. The first one, although far
inferior in numbers, has always been and continues to be
the only ruling power in all the states. These two elements
brought into contact during four centuries have never
become assimilated to any considerable extent. It might
be said that they have rather kept themselves at a dis-
tance from each other, so that the overwhelming majority
still remain pure-blooded.

But even a partial union of those elements could not
produce any substantial change in the position of woman in
the Spanish-American colonies. She had always lived sur-
rounded by a similar atmosphere and placed under similar
circumstances in Spanish and Indian civilization, her field
of action never extending beyond the narrow limits of the
family and of religious institutions, churches, convents, etc.
In the whole compass of public life she was totally absent,
absolutely ignored, as if she could not have any political
significance whatever. Beyond the walls of the family
dwelling she could become nothing but a Spanish nun or
an Indian vestal. The form of government was essentially
monarchical and theocratic in Spain, as it was in Indian
communities. The divine right of kings was the same on
both sides ; and as a natural consequence, in the course of
several centuries the most exclusive religious sentiment
became the main characteristic of the population. It must
be added that the secular war in which Spain fought for
her national independence and religious creed made a
single block of these two principles, and melted patriotic
feeling and Catholic faith to such a degree that they became
one and the same thought and aspiration in every part of
that warlike and proud nation. Such is the mold in which
Spanish-American character was shaped.

The effects of this cause were, of course, much deeper in
woman's character, owing to her natural sensibility, her
instinctive religious tendency, and the docility with which

662 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

she adapts herself to the influences prevailing in her home.
Being inexorably excluded from all participation in political
or public life, her patriotic feeling remained latent, the
whole of her activity being thus completely absorbed by
her domestic duties and religious worship. Laws, tradi-
tions, and habits worked together in restraining to an ex-
cessive degree the freedom and power of woman, even in
the narrow field of her strictly private life — her existence
from beginning to end passed in submission to the author-
ity and will of her lord and master ; and in spite of the
chivalrous character of the Spaniard, the companion of his
life was no better than any of her oriental ancestors, an
imprisoned or enslaved beauty, deprived of all the blessings
and advantages of education and learning. Yet it is doubt-
ful if there is a more intelligent or better endowed woman
in any region on the face of the earth. Her quick compre
hension, her bright imagination, her artistic propensities,
her truly wonderful precocity, and even her impulsive and
passionate character, evidently will cause in the course of
time the transformation of this brilliant and fascinating
spoiled child into the noblest type of woman, shining as
one of the elements of national and universal progress.
I am conscious of not overestimating the richness of her
nature when I affirm that there is no heroic self^bnega-
tion, no sublime ideal, no delicate refinement, no degree
of moral courage that may rise above the level of the
Spanish-American woman's natural powers.

The war for the emancipation of the Spanish colonies of
America was the first shock that awakened the Spanish-
American woman from her slumbers, and opened to her
astonished eyes a new and brilliant horizon. She was every-
where an enthusiastic agent and a devoted champion of the
independent party, carrying her action so far that on
several occasions the Spanish military executions reddened
with her blood the soil she labored to liberate.

During the protracted period of internal convulsion and
civil war that preceded the organization and present state

h-

^

w

Sarah A. Stewart.
Mr>. Henry Ward Beecher.

CiR \i i: GREi:NWt)OD.

(.Mrs. Lippincott.)

Hri.DA Ll'NDIN.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS, 653

of the Spanish-American republics, the influence of woman
was felt frequently in prominent events of political life.

She had no right granted by law to interfere with such
matters ; but she deemed her right to be justified by her
own self-sacrifice in the war for independence. Her action,
if not a legal one, was in many instances an efficient force
that brought about the final solution, and gave rise to deep
changes, nay, to the very existence of new governments.

In later years new laws swept away some of the most
powerful obstacles opposed by ancient legislation to the
improvement of woman's position in private and public life.
The barrier of religious intolerance was partially demol-
ished in several of the new republics, and the free access of
foreign immigration to their respective territories produced
a large number of intermarriages and of new homes where
an enlightened and liberal spirit rules over the family.

Public and private education began to spread in the
upper classes of the young nations, although for the most
part it still remained in the hands of sectarian teachers and
religious institutions. But in the last score of years a most
considerable progress has been accomplished, by the united
action of governments and private individuals, in the prin-
cipal Spanish-American states. It is with the deepest feel-
ing of joy and pride that I state the fact of the influence of
our sex in this great evolution. Nearly all the schools for
girls are placed under the control of female teachers ; nor-
mal schools for women are supported amply or protected by
the national authorities ; large and beautiful buildings, that
in some cities are veritable palaces, have been erected for
educational purposes ; and hundreds of foreign professors
are being brought continually from their native countries
to the hospitable and promising homes of Spanish-America.
The majority of female teachers are native young ladies
who have obtained their credentials in a strictly regular
way ; and it can be asserted confidently that there will be
in the future no deficiency in the supply of intelligent
direction for all public schools. This has been the first

43

654 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

authorized step of the Spanish-American woman's career
beyond the limits of domestic life. Another important
movement, attained by a strength of will and moral cour-
age of which no one unacquainted with Spanish countries
can form even an idea, is the admission lately granted to
female students to the curriculum of the regular univer-
sities.

To appreciate duly this success it will be necessary to
remember certain circumstances peculiar to several of the
Spanish- American countries, which formed an almost impas-
sable barrier against so great an innovation. Fpr many
generations woman had been regarded in every Spanish
community as a being deprived by nature of every at-
tribute of mind and character fit for any sober or serious
purpose. She could be but a comfort and an ornament in
the home of her proud and indolent master. On the other
hand, legal and military affairs being excepted, labor, in
whatever form, was despised sincerely by the nobility or
governing class of the country. Even such professions as
medicine, architecture, and engineering as existed at the
time, were carried on by individuals of the colored race,
and not infrequently by slaves. Thus contempt for labor
had become in all classes of society a habit, an instinct, a
deeply rooted feeling, that even to this day shows its vital-
ity in spite of foreign intercourse and advanced education.
Daily experience, with its eloquent teachings, has to a cer-
tain extent undermined that ancient prejudice. Still, what
remains of the old spirit is enough to shake the most reso-
lute courage. It might therefore be said in all truth that
the Spanish-American woman has carried the position by
storm, and she may justly be proud of her new victor}-.
Although in very limited numbers, there are at present
women who, as lawyers, physicians, dentists, and midwives,
sustain a decorous position among their male colleagues.

The expansive force of this woman's natural talent has
made a broad field besides in almost every branch of art and
literature — drawing, painting, music, poetry, and romance,

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 655

afford a pleasant employment to the leisure hours of the
educated woman, and in many instances have given her
a reputation which extends beyond the boundaries of her
native country. The works of several ladies rank as high
in Spanish literature, especially in poetry, as some of the
old classics, and stand almost on a level with those of the
very best poets of the present day. Even the political press
begins to feel woman's influence, there being already a few
daily or periodical papers edited by ladies, and devoted to
the interest of some political organization. It is unneces-
sary to add that they are always enthusiastic defenders of
woman's rights.

It must not be forgotten that the foregoing remarks con-
cern only a small class of women placed in the most favor-
able circumstances, and that even among them the literary
and the artistic labor are never remunerative in any degree
whatever. Still, there is no doubt that before long such
labor will become as useful and productive as that of any
profession or business opened to our sex. The number of
gfirls and women belonging to the middle class (and they
are generally more or less educated) who find by their own
•exertions some means of support is very limited indeed.
In the great majority of cases they remain a burden to their
parents, their husbands, or some other male members of
the family, and in spite of their natural disinterestedness
gfirls are sometimes induced to accept a marriage by
necessity rather thaxi by choice.

This truly deplorable condition of affairs can not be
changed suddenly, as it is a natural eflfect of the peculiar
organization of Spanish society. The Spaniard, and still
more his American descendant, deems himself disgraced,
dishonored, if it is known that his wife, his daughter, or
his sister works for her living or for the improvement of
her home. Such a prejudice and false pride could be
explained in the period of fantastic wealth, when almost
everybody in the Spanish colonies lived rich and happy
without the trouble of any personal labor, for all the work

656 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

was carried on by slaves. That immense wealth passed
away long ago, yet the old proud feeling still remains.
How long will it last ?

Let us hope that more frequent intercourse with foreign
population, together with the necessity of securing domes-
tic happiness by providing young girls with the means of
self-support, so as to make them the companions and help-
mates, not the servile attendants, of their husbands, will soon
do away with the unnatural inactivity of so many intelli-
gent and educated women.

With the exception of some of the post oflBce, telephone,
and telegraph offices, there is not a single official bureau
where women regularly are employed ; and excepting certain
lines of tramways in a few cities, and occasionally in a small
number of stores and shops, they are never seen anywhere
in the vast field of public or private activity.

To close these brief remarks, I submit to your attention
two very significant facts, viz. — First, the spirit of associa-
tion for serious and useful purposes, lately initiated in
Spanish-American female society and attaining every day
more remarkable proportions ; second, the ever-increasing
circulation of literary and scientific books and periodicals
among the female population of the principal cities in
almost every one of those states.

It is the moral duty as well as the practical interest of the
North American people to extend to the young and prom-
ising nations of Spanish-America the influence of their
modem institutions, and the liberal and progressive spirit
which is advancing the cause of woman, and very particu-
larly the atmosphere of freedom and encouragement that
surrounds the life of our sex in the North. No object
richer in promise can be offered to your energies than the
more complete social emancipation of the Spanish-Ameri-
can woman. It seems to me an axiomatic truth that to
complete the freedom of woman in domestic and social
life is to secure her legitimate influence and civilizing
power in the general evolution of mankind.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 667

The Women of Brazil — Address by Martha Sessel-
BERG OF Brazil.

The women of Brazil in character and education are a
home-loving, home-abiding class. They are born to be
home-makers, housewives, and mothers. Their home is
their world ; for that they live, and for that they could die.
Still, as has been said of Spanish women, with whom in
character they are closely allied, " They contribute greatly
to the wealth and prosperity of their country, by their
habits of order and economy, and by the education they
give their children, maintaining the national sentiment by
the poetry of their nature."

A Brazilian girl as a rule leaves school at an earlier age
than does an American girl. If she attends a day school
some member of her family escorts her thither and brings
her home again, for a Brazilian mother would sooner die
than allow her daughter to roam about at will, or indeed go
anywhere unattended. If it be the girl's brother who
accompanies her, his proud, if rather ostentatious, protec-
tion of his sister helps in reality to develop in him that
almost national trait of the Brazilian gentleman — chivalry.

Many of the girls' schools in Brazil compare favorably
with your own. Besides private there are boarding schools
designed for destitute orphan girls, who therein receive
gratuitous primary instruction, domestic education, food,
clothing, and, when they marry, a wedding outfit and a
small dowry. These establishments have a special direct-
orship composed of philanthropic men, who provide a
situation for these girls, if they do not marry, when, having
concluded their studies, they are obliged to leave the
college. All expenses connected with these poor children's
asylums are defrayed at the cost of the state or government
treasury.

Brazilian girls generally marry between the ages of six-
teen and twenty-two. Rare are the cases of infidelity

658 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

among the wives. What shall I say of the women of Brazil
professionally ? What of them in literature and art, you
ask ? Their natural talent is fast finding a wide scope in
drawing, in painting, in music, and in literature. Also in
limited numbers they are at present dentists and physicians.
I do not know of a lawyer among them. A few excellent
journalists have of late entered that profession. In needle-
work, especially the ** labyrinth " lace of Ceara, they excel.

A true wife, a tender and judicious mother, as a friend
loyal, in sickness a veritable ministering angel, such is the
Brazilian woman.

Women in South America — Address by Isabel King
OF Argentine Republic.

At one of the meetings at the Art Institute in Chicago
during the World's Fair Congresses, a delegate was called
upon to give an account of the status of agricultural indus-
tries in some of the countries of South America, and espe-
cially the relation which woman's work might bear to prog-
ress in this direction.

Among other things, she said that in the country, within
the limits of one's vision, might be seen the latest inventions
that Yankee ingenuity had constructed to aid man in his task
of enriching and garnering the treasures that bounteous
Mother Nature was ready to supply when petitioned under
proper conditions — side by side with the crudest imple-
ments used by the peasant class in all countries, whether
under an oriental or an occidental sky.

At the same hour that this was being told another speaker,
giving impressions about South America in the Woman's
Building, told her audience that the South American coun-
tries were three centuries behind our age in the knowledge
or use of agricultural implements and in modes of living.

The extremes noted in the statements of these speakers
may well serve to indicate the actual transition period

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 669

through which Spanish-America is passing (for without
doubt both statements can be verified, both are true ; and
the cause for this state of things may be only the corollary
of a condition which must have its influence as much in the
special methods of government adopted in the diflferent
countries as in the modes of thought dominant in educa-
tional or sociological progress generally).

It must not be forgotten that the autonomy of these South
American countries is of a very recent date ; also that the
elements that arrived centuries ago to conquer and plunder,
and exploit the wealth to be found here, were not such as
could combine with the natives.

The great part of the South American population, which
prides itself on being native, is composed of these two-
extremes — the descendants of the Spanish conquerors and
colonists and the native Indian peoples ; the first striving
to live out a civilization commenced thousands of years ago,,
and having its rise in scenes and surroundings of Old World
culture and luxury; the other adhering to the customs
indigenous to the land of the pampas and the lasso.

When Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain sent out
their navigators and colonists in search of wealth in the
New Continent, these vast countries were overrun by every
grade of explorer, from the religious fanatic to the con-^
scienceless mercenary. The ancient religion and the
ancient independence were sacrificed to Rome, to Castile,
and to Portugal.

The companies of Jesuits of a later date left their impress
in the shape of great public works, roadways, aqueducts,
etc., in diflferent countries, which they led their new, willing
or unwilling, subjects to construct, at the same time holding
them by the blind faith they were enabled to instill. So it
is that the conquering few were found leading the vast
numbers, accustomed to obey the voice of the commander^
until the hour struck for the blue-blood of old Castile flow-
ing in the veins of the descendants of the old-time explorers
to become oxygenized under the influence of the liberty-

860 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

laden air wafted from the northern countries which had
thrown oflf the Old World yoke ; and the giants Bolivar, San
Martin, Rivadavia, and other southern generals led their
legions through the wars that were crowned with the suc-
cessful emancipation of the countries of Spanish-America.

It was in these soul-stirring times that woman discovered
that her part in the social and political worlds also was
important. Up to this moment she had been the subdued
and submissive captive beauty, whether in the rancho of
the Indian or in the Moorish home of the descendant of
the Spanish hidalgo. In this home her activity spent itself
in beautiful embroideries and self-adornment ; in that one,
in pounding the corn and roasting the meat for her gfuard-
ian. In both cases religious worship and her immediate
home affections absorbed all the spiritual life with which
she was endowed. Now, however, she learned, through
bitter experience, of the larger family, the patria, which
called the fathers, husbands, and sons from her side to bat-
tle for the independence which was also to be hers.

History records many instances of fiery partisanship and of
daring intervention on the part of these hitherto ornamental
helpmates, often made precisely at the moment needed to
turn the current of success in favor of the native party. At
a decisive moment during the British invasion of Buenos
Ayres, at the beginning of the century, the invaders were
routed when the women came to the aid of their defenders
by hurling missiles and hot water from the roofs of the
houses. Not civilized warfare, surely, but the importance
of the stake at issue and the necessity of the occasion
defends the success gained in this manner. At the same
place, during the struggle for independence made possible
through the victories over the English, the women com-
bined to provide ammunition which was lacking for the
ranks of the patriots, at a time when the cause needed the
stimulus furnished by such an action.

What was the effect of such uprisings upon beings here-
tofore passive recipients of what bounty their protectors

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 661

might provide ? Simply what might be expected of women
endowed, as they were, with powerful sensibility, quick
intelligence, and strong will to fulfill the religious duties
imposed upon them, now turned in the direction of the ful-
fillment of patriotic ideals. Since those, days, although not
recognized by law as having any political status, woman's
influence has often been felt in the internal struggles with
which these countries have been torn in their efforts toward
self-government; and more important still has been the
effect upon her own intellectual development, strengthened
and fortified naturally through polemics and partisanship
in which she can not help but join when the very air she
breathes is permeated with them. It might not be difficult,
even nowadays, to find women who can scarcely sign their
names who are able to sustain discussions regarding their
favorite subjects in politics, benevolence, or religion, with
all the ardor, tact, and correctness of philosophic vision that
might well befit persons who had received a more favored
education. In the country homes, where many families
reside a large portion of the year, owing to the presence of
the master being needed to oversee the hands at work at
agriculture or at pasturing, it is not uncommon to find the
books that have been used at the university by fathers or
brothers in the hands of mothers, sisters, and aunts. So,
among surroundings that are often very incongfruous, may
appear the works of Rochefoucauld, Lamartine, Chateau-
briand, Shakespeare, Castelar, Cervantes, etc., showing signs
of use and appreciation.

As one of our writers observes, the advance-guard of
thought may come from the country rather than from the
large cities, where the distractions of society draw the mind
away from quiet study and the introspection needed for
the elaboration of deep plans and elevation of thought;
but it is really in the great centers of population that the
movement is plainly visible which must end in the appli-
cation of the principles of liberty, fraternity, and equality
to both sexes.

662 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

One end of the wedge was inserted during the great
access of foreigpi immigration, when these countries com-
menced their independent existence, and woman was so
often seen working side by side with man, according to cus-
toms unknown to the descendants of the Spanish hidalgo or
of the Indian **gaucho." True, she had no degree of inde-
pendence with this permission to work, and could not
always dispose of the money she had aided in earning, but
the ability to work served as a model, and the advantage
gained, in case masculine leadership should fail, was readily
seen.

Another strong impetus was felt during the discussions
resulting in and consequent upon the abolition of religious
intolerance in many parts of the southern continent. Dif-
ferent points of view were opened before the mental vision
of those whose horizon, until this time, had been limited
by the fiat of the ecclesiastic, whose rule was felt in all
circles.

But the power whose influence is making itself felt most
strongly now is the diffusion of instruction among the
masses of the population. During the past twenty years a
wonderful stride has been made in nearly or quite all of the
South American countries. Each one has a history almost
similar to the others, in that there has arisen some apostle
of popular education determined that his own particular
republic should not remain behind other civilized nations
in this respect.

In the Republic of Uruguay the name of Don Jos6 Pedro
Varela, called the Horace Mann of that country, is vener-
ated as the founder of common schools, giving instruction
alike to rich and poor, to boys and girls ; and for making
possible the founding of normal schools, well equipped,
and giving a very high grade of secondary instruction.

The Sefforita Enriqueta Compte was sent to Germany to
study kindergartening in its home, and now is installed at
the head of a school of practice for kindergarteners in Mon-
tevideo that promises to be the beginning of the greatest of

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. QGS

all reforms in education — the beginning at the beginning,
and making the foundation strong and sure.

The Seilora vStagnero de Muiiar is at the head of the
Normal School for Girls in the same city, and is laboring
with an abnegation and enthusiasm rarely equaled in more
favored circles to implant in the minds of the young
women gathered from different parts of the country the
pedagogical principles that shall enable them to become
real teachers.

She is ably seconded in her efforts by the SeSorita Adela
Castells, a young litt6rateure whose name •is rapidly becom-
ing a power in educational circles. It is somewhat difficult
to determine the exact proportion of illiteracy among the
general population, owing to the incompleteness of the
census returns in this respect ; but in the centers of popula-
tion it has for some years decreased very favorably. With
the impetus received from the installation of the Patriotic
League, a society founded for the purpose of having the
national language taught in all parts of the country (as a
safeguard from the encroachments of the Portuguese from
the Brazilian boundaries), and with the enthusiastic leader-
ship of Doctor Berra, lawyer and teacher, Seiior Gomez.
Ruano, the director of the Pedagogical Museum, and
others, it is safe to affirm that this country will soon take an
honorable position among the educated nations.

Most flattering of all, perhaps, is the high esteem felt for
the part woman is taking in this elevation of thought, in
this crusade against ignorance. She is making her way to
the front ranks so rapidly that those who know how
recently the awakening has come are surprised, not taking
into consideration the many quiet influences that were at
work preparing this desire for education to burst into such
rich fruition.

Secondary instruction has attained a high rank in the
Republic of Chile, and the results of this are easily notice-
able in the general deportment of the better class of
citizens.

R64 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

It is probably in the Argentine Republic that the most
successful work has been done toward implanting a com-
mon-school course of education among the masses.

During the revolutionary period, near the beginning of
the century, the great Rivadavia said : " We can not wonder
that every state, whether its form of government be mon-
archical or republican, leaving the conscience of men free,
flinging the shield of protection over the religion of the
citizen, should with zealous care watch over the education
of the rising generations — that men may become familiar
with the genius and peculiar features of their own govern-
ment : form an acquaintance with the laws and institutions
of the country in which they live and act a part ; and that
they may imbibe a spirit of enlightened patriotism, secur-
ing them alike from the encroachment of the tyrant on the
one hand and the selfish designs of the demagogue on the
other/'

The great work planned by this noble and far-seeing
statesman to secure these ends was in advance of his time,
and fell to naught during the epoch of anarchy that soon
came upon the unfortunate country. The cruel civil strife
that continued so long led men's thoughts far away from
thoughts of intellectual or moral development, and the
country was reduced to a state bordering on barbarism.

When a better day dawned, during the presidency of
General Bartolomo Mitre, a system of secondary education
was organized. Colleges were founded by the national
government in several of the larger cities. The French
Lyc6e sy-stem was adopted and professors brought from
European schools.

It was, however, during the administration of Dr. Don
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento that popular education
received an immense impulse. He had seen what free
education had done for the United States, and he deter-
mined to establish the common-school system throughout
his beloved Argentine country.

Doctor Sarmiento had been on terms of friendship with

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 666

Horace Mann and other educators during his term as min-
ister to this country, and had come to realize the impor-
tance of providing the means of an education for each
child, as the best mode of preparing him for future citizen-
ship.

Large grants of money were voted by Congress for the
diflFusion of primary instruction in the different provinces,
and with this stimulus each province awakened to a
greater appreciation of its own duty in this respect.

It was owing to the enthusiasm of this schoolmaster
president that teachers from the United States were invited
to take part in the training of teachers among the Argen-
tines. About the year 1883 normal schools for g^rls were
founded in the capital city of each province, while before
this there had been but three in all the republic, and these
located near Buenos Ayres, very far from many of the
other centers of population, and especially inconvenient in a
country where popular sentiment would condemn the sepa-
ration of a young woman from the family circle, unless to
enter one of the boarding-schools, the greater number of
which were directed and taught by the Catholic nuns.

Now, however, all this is changed, and in this Columbian
year the Argentine Republic sustains fourteen female
normal schools and seven mixed normal schools, these last
solving the problem of co-education to the entire satisfac-
tion of all ; in a country, too, whose customs and general
sentiment almost precluded the possibility of the idea
being successfully carried out.

The following statistics will probably be of interest, as
showing the great advance made in late years in this first
authorized step of the Spanish-American woman beyond
the limits of the domestic circle, there being a large pre-
ponderance of young women in the normal course prepar
ing for a professional career :

«66

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.
FEMALE NORMAL SCHOOLS.

LOCALITY.

Year of founda-
tion.

Buenos Ayres

Rosario (Province of Santa Fe).

Cordoba

Corrientes

Rioja

Tncuman

San Juan

Santiago

Catamarca

Mendoza

Salta

Jujuy..

-San Luis

Urugfuay (Entro Rios)

Total

1874
1877
1884
1884
1884
X887
1879
1881
1878
1878
1882
1884
1879
1873

NUMBER OP PUPILS IN 189a.

Normal Course.

183
36
37
32
21

52
25
38
30
18
16
15
43
65

611

School of Appli-
cation.

273
347
218
310

185
298
306
402

247
212

83
123
223
610

3.837

MIXED NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Year of founda-
tion.

NUMBER OF PUPILS IN 189a.

LOCALITY.

Normal Course.

School of Appli-
cation.

Parana (Prov. of E. Rios)

Mercedes (Prov. of B. Ayres)..

Aiul (Prov. of B. Ayres)

Dolores (Prov. of B. Ayres)...
Rio Cuarto -

1871
1887
1887
1888
1888
1888
1888

112

23
16
29
21

545
133
268

277

21't

•San Nicholas .

24 323

La Plata

25 1 330

Total

250 , 2,089

1

Many of these schools have been or are now tinder the
direction of teachers from the United States. More than
thirty American women have found pleasant temporary
homes among these hospitable people, who were anxious to
participate in the benefits that a more liberal educational
system was allowing in the " Great Republic of the North."

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 667

These schools are fitted up with great liberality, often
housed in fine buildings, containing the most approved
North American furniture, and costly apparatus from
France and Germany for the teaching of natural history,
physics, chemistry, etc.

The instruction is academic and professional, the course
for the attainment of the degree of preceptor being now
four years, and that of professor being six.

Applicants for admission to the normal course who are
girls must have attained fourteen years, and must present
certificates of having passed the common-school course, or
must pass examination in the common-school branches.

The kindergarten teaching is being spread with great
enthusiasm, some of the young ladies devoting themselves
to a study of its principles and graduating as "professors"
of kindergarten teaching.

A great reaction has set in against the teaching of the
merely ornamental in handwork, and now a thoroughly
graduated course in sewing, ending in cutting garments
with mathematical accuracy, forms part of the curriculum
of the higher girls' schools.

Manual training has been introduced under the teaching
of graduates from Mr. Otto Salomon's academy at Naas;
and, while not properly belonging in an article treating of
the advancement of women, we can not help indicating here
the great influence the enthusiasm for this branch of the
" new education " must have over the future of this country.
The contempt for labor, which existed all through these
countries by right of inheritance, is being rapidly eradicated,
and a wholesome respect for the agricultural and mechan-
ical arts is springing up, which bids fair to transform the
unstable condition of this part of the world into one of
more permanent prosperity. Greater numbers of young
men are entering the agricultural and veterinary colleges ;
more are taking engineering courses, and consequently
fewer graduating as lawyers and physicians. There had
always been so great a proportion of graduates in these

668 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

liberal professions that many of them had to become merely
hangers-on in the political field, and often unsatisfied appli-
cants for political spoils. The leaders of thought look
forward to the redemption of the country through this new
trend of educational effort, and hope that with the increased
prosperity that must come with the exploitation of the
bountiful natural resources that belong to this portion of
the earth, and by means of its own sons aiding with intelli-
gent, well-cultivated direction the crude efforts of the many
colonists, these latest revolutions will soon come to be the
last.

Add to this hurried r6sum6 that Argentina, in common
with nearly all well-established South American countries,
has enjoyed university education for the favored few since
the beginning of the century.

For some years education has been compulsory and gratu-
itous in Argentina, and the law obliges poor parents, as
well as employers of children, to prove their more or less
regular attendance at some center of instruction, either in
the municipal or rural schools. These are far from being
equipped as are the normal schools above mentioned, and
make only a more or less successful attempt at teaching the
three R's. This teaching is gradually improving, as the
normal school graduates are spreading out in all directions
and making their influence felt in favor of better methods
and more complete instruction.

Besides these means of education, provided by the national
and provincial or state governments, there exist many insti-
tutions founded by the church and working under ecclesi-
astical supervision, many private schools of a high degree of
excellence, and a few schools supported through the efforts
of corporations.

In the report on education for the Paris Exposition,
special mention was made of two schools sustained in this
manner by popular effort in the towns of Goya and Esquina.

The society of Goya, led by Dr. M. I. Loza, an enthusiast on
the subject of education as conducted in the United States,

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 669

founded a school for girls which attracted the attention of
the whole country, as being sustained by the parents them-
selves who take an active and immediate interest in the
higher education of their daughters, under the protection of
their own homes, and without the intervention of the gov-
ernment.

Stimulated by the success of this popular venture, Senor
Ramon Gracia of Esquina initiated a similar movement in
that town. The results have been most flattering, and thus
Corrientes boasts of having three educational centers
directed by North Americans, in which higher education is
made accessible to a very large proportion of its inhabit-
ants; the third one is the national normal school in the
capital city, Corrientes.

In these popular schools, as they are called, no expense has
been spared to implant all the newer thought of the day, and
kindergarten work, manual training, and physical culture
have been initiated in accordance with the most approved
methods. Teachers from Sweden are training in wood-
work, sewing, and physical culture ; and in Goya an enthu-
siastic graduate from the kindergarten work training-school
of Parana is directing the attention of parents to the impor-
tance of this the foundation work in the elevation of the
human family.

The annual examinations and exhibitions of these schools
are veritable educational tournaments, being the great
event of the year, which all circles of society join in cele-
brating. The directors hesitate in joining the current of
opinion tending toward the abolishment of examinations,
believing that in these towns the direct effect of such exhi-
bitions is to stimulate parents and children, and that climate
and modes of living will of themselves prevent any danger
of overstimulation.

Corrientes is called the revolutionary province par excel-
lence, but it can also affirm, with pride, that it is taking an
advanced place in the evolution which is making for right-
eousness and better living in all parts of this country ; and

44

670 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Argentina may make a similar claim as being the most
advanced of the South American republics in providing
educational facilities for the masses, although others may
equal her in university education.

Three Argentine women have passed with honors into
the ranks of the medical profession, two having added to
their preparation by study in Europe. Doctora Cecilia
Grierson, now having a large practice in Buenos Ayres, is
doing pioneer work in educating classes of male and
female nurses, and actively aiding the propaganda for
organizing a "Society for First Aid."

Her efforts are strengthened by the cooperation of* the
Seiiorita Gracia Lagos and SeSora Dolores L. de Lavalle, a
member of an old historic family, who is president of the
ladies' branch of the Red Cross Society, besides being
prominent in other works of beneficence.

So in all this southern half of our continent Spanish-
American women are advancing, and the few who have
stormed the outworks and striven to attain a place in the
liberal professions are sustaining their new dignity with
success, and so illuminating the path for the many who are
preparing to follow. Among women there are but few
physicians, dentists, midwives ; fewer lawyers and avowed
politicians ; but there are many who have achieved a degree
of prominence in music, painting, and literature. Some
periodicals in the larger cities are almost wholly conducted
by women.

As yet women appear in but few of the telephone and
telegraph offices, and in comparatively few of the stores
and shops ; the leveling-up process not having permeated
the large middle class to a sufficient extent to induce those
who can not prepare themselves for teaching to leave the
seclusion of their homes.

In the statistics of the few countries that have been
available there has not been noticed any great difference
between men and women in the compensation for equal
work done, where both have been employed ; with the very

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 671

noticeable fact that women are not found in the highest
positions, and therefore are not enjoying the largest
salaries.

In recent years the growth and extension of all kinds of
manufactories have opened larger fields for the entrance of
women to industrial circles, and as there is ^ome complaint
as to their lack of business capacity and punctuality, some
time must elapse before education will become so general
as to effect results in changing this complaint.

In the opinion of many, the next step to be taken is to
provide greater facilities for the superior education of the
higher classes, and to institute a general system of indus-
trial education for all throughout the country.

The time is ripe, men's minds are prepared, theories
have been advanced, and it can be prophesied that the large
reforms in this direction will have been commenced by
women through the elementary efforts beg^n in some parts
toward teaching poor children to sew. There has even
been some talk of opening cooking-schools.

Organization, or association for benevolent purposes
{nearly always under some phase of religious government),
has been very generally carried out ; and woman here, as
all over the world, is the recognized dispenser of charity.
So far her work has been to feed the hungry and to tend
the sick and necessitous, without looking farther than
the momentary needs ; but now, with the growth of better
modes of living generally, more frequent intercourse with
other nations, and the spread of greater literary and scien-
tific knowledge, the spirit of cooperation is gaining strength,
and a larger philanthropy is being studied, with a view
to help the unfortunate to be self-helpful. Although still
largely under the active influence of the church, this
spirit of association, either from philanthropic motives
purely or for higher education, is obeying here, as else-
where, the impulse of to-day for cooperation in all direc-
tions. Judging by the gigantic strides made toward reforms
by women here, during the short time since the first steps

672 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

were taken for higher education that made such progpress
possible, and by the quickness of perception and desire
for improvement that characterize her, it is not impossible
that the Spanish-American woman may startle her sisters
by the advanced position she may be able to assume among
them when the day shall come for her to be better known.
At present, communication is so difficult between North
and South America, and so convenient between North
America and Europe, that many very intelligent and widely
traveled persons in the United States have but vague ideas
of the kind of civilization to be encountered among their
sister republics. If the culture of a country is to be meas-
ured by the place woman holds in it, then the more
advanced of these southern countries must be looked upon
as possessing the highest and lowest extremes, both in the
position woman has held and in the promise that is held
forth as to the position soon to be taken by her.

The Progress of Women in England — Address Pre-
pared BY Helen Blackburn of England, Read by
Harriet Taylor Upton of Ohio.

The progress of women in England is a large subject to
be asked to undertake in the brief space of thirty minutes,
yet the salient points may be indicated by a glance at the
accompanying diagram, with its various ascents and depres-
sions, and ascent again.*

The Saxon period, we must remember, was not one of
abiding peace — invasions and predatory attacks fill the his-
tory with records of strife ; therefore, we must expect to find
the idea which underlies all early systems of jurisprudence,

*The diagram referred to, a graphic presentation of the progress of
Englishwomen, is too complex to be reproduced here. The line showing
the trend of woman's advancement rises so abruptly as to form an almost
l^erpendicular ascent from the beginning of organized effort among English-

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 673

that the woman is under the protection (mund, to quote the
Saxon word) of a man, still prevailing in Saxon law. But
what we also find is that the idea of protection did not
degenerate into the absolute domination which we find in
Indian, Greek, and Roman law at a corresponding stage of
development. There was something in the conditions of
life in Saxon England which contributed to this. The
population lived scattered ; they did not congregate in
camps or walled towns, whence the men went out to fight
or hunt, but they lived, each household in its own home-
stead, with its own garden, fields, and share of common
land. In their daily avocations men and women worked
side by side, each working into the other s hands, dependent
on each other for mutual help. There is no country which,
at a similar stage, seems to have been more favorable to
women. The Anglo-Saxon girl was left free choice in
marriage, the Anglo-Saxon mother was guardian of her
own child, and women filled positions of great respon-
sibility.

The figure of Hilda stands out as one of the wisest and
most saintly women in the whole course of English history.
" Her prudence was so great," says the venerable Bede,
" that her advice was sought from far and near, not only by
ordinary people, but kings and princes sought and found
counsel from her;" and prelates also, for it was under her
roof that the ecclesiastical council was held which allayed
the fierce theological controversy about Easter, which was
at that time the burning question in the British church.
The pupils of Hilda's community were trained by her to
thorough and conscientious study — five who became bishops
were among her disciples; for she ruled a double com-
munity of monks and nuns, as did also St. Ebba at Cold-
ingham, St. Eldreda at Ely, St. Cuthburga at Wimborne — so
too, a century earlier, Ireland's great St. Brigid at Kildare.
These facts in themselves indicate the respect in which
women were held by the church.

While Hilda thus represents the high place accorded to

674 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

women in religious matters, CEthelflaed is representative of
their political influence. This ** martial lady," worthy
daughter of Alfred the King, brought qualities of general-
ship and statesmanship to bear on her troubled times
which enabled her to protect and rule her kingdom of
Mercia, as the old chronicle says, ** with rightful dominion."
A whole century intervenes between St. Edith of Wil-
ton and St. Ela of Salisbury, abbess of Lacock. The con-
quest of England by William of Normandy had meantime
taken place, ^nd the feudal system had become fully devel-
oped, with its two predominant ideas of hereditary rights
and duties and of mutual dependence of classes. These
conditions are well illustrated in the life of this noble lady,
who, as heiress of the Earldom of Salisbury, passed the
title on to her husband, and after his death by appointment
of the king, Henry III., filled the office, which had been
filled by both her father and her husband, that of sheriff of
Wiltshire. Later she became abbess of a convent which
she had herself founded at Lacock, one of those abbeys
which were the centers of culture for the young ladies of
England. In these stately abodes, if they did not learn
much as we count learning by books, they learned all such
domestic and healing arts as the knowledge of the day
afiForded, and the ways and courtesies of a well-regulated,
digfnified ordering of life. They grew up under the shelter
of a community which had a distinct place in the life of its
generation, whose mistress was liable to be summoned to the
aid of the sovereign, sometimes in camp, sometimes in
council, and who, in several instances that might be men-
tioned, herself held manorial courts and had even power of
life and death. These abbeys then were fit training-places
for those who themselves would be called on to fill respon-
sible duties, whether as heads of their husbands' castles, or
as ladies of the manor, or as custodians of castles. The
shield on the effigy of the Baroness of Abergavenny marks
her out in a unique manner as one of those who inherited
the duties of a knightly position. Such, too, was Elizabeth

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 675

of Clare, Countess of Ulster, and Mary de St. Paul, Countess
of Pembroke, who are worthy companions of Margaret of
Anjou and the other women who founded colleges at the
English universities ; thus illustrating also the appreciation
of learning which many women shared ; Margaret Beau-
fort, Countess of Richmond, being the most remarkable
among these founders, both for her own force of charac-
ter and as the mother of all the Tudors. There were many
other women who fulfilled responsible territorial duties.
Enough has been said to show that the same freer spirit
which preserved the Saxon woman from the protection
which is domination pervaded also the feudal period, and
saved England from adopting the " Salic law.**

But more than this, in the industrial and commercial
life of the medieval ages a parallel equality of treatment
is often to be discerned. The guilds, which form as impor-
tant a feature of the industrial life of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries as do the friendly societies and trade
unions of that of the nineteenth century, nearly all included
women as members, and the ** systren ** are named in their
regulations along with the " brethren ** as having the same
claims upon and duties toward the guild. Also, in the
legislation of those centuries there is no such classification
to be met with as ** women and young persons," with which
bur modern factory acts have made us so familiar. In the
statutes of Henry IV. and Edward IV. it is ** man and
woman," "father and mother," "son and daughter " that
we find. Professor Thorold Rogers, in his " Six Centuries
of Work and Wages," states that the average wages earned
by a woman in agricultural work now are not more than a
third of what they earned in relative value four hundred
years ago.

Thus the position of women throughout this long period
of time may be indicated by a fairly level line moving
upward with the awakening of learning, to culminate in
the Elizabethan era, when women held the highest place in
culture that they have held at any time until this present

676 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

generation. There is an assured dignity about the portraits
of the women of the Tudor period which corresponds well
with the reputation for learning and for intellectual power of
so many, of whom Margaret Roper, Mary Sidney, and the
daughters of Sir Anthony Coke may be cited as representa-
tives. Even the substantial richness of the dress of the
Tudor ladies seems in harmony with the substantial char-
acter of their education.

But just before this culminating point two institutions of
the medieval social fabric had been brought to an abrupt con-
clusion — the monasteries and the guilds. The immediate
effect of the destruction of such institutions upon society
was general, but a reflex prejudicial effect on women
becomes apparent later in the swift decline that took place
during the hundred years between the death of Queen Eliza-
beth and the accession of Queen Anne. In this period we
have not only to reckon with the absence of educational
and protective institutions, but also with the presence of the
Puritan spirit, which, with its deep intensity, was limited
in its horizon. It scorned whatever seemed to savor in the
least degree of chivalry or of Roman Catholicism ; it dis-
couraged all that did not harmonize with its dispropor-
tionate interpretation of scriptural injunctions.

Of historic women this period yields indeed no mean
number, but their place in history rests on grounds quite
different from those of the Tudor period. Able women,
with a lofty standard of duty, they would have been under
any circumstances, but the deeds which have earned them
distinction were drawn forth by the troublous character of
their time. They show that great individual heroism and
nobility of character can co-exist with, nay, may be per-
fected by, the evils which are shattering society. It is the
lesson of war, a lesson that exalts the individual character
at the expense of the general well-being. After the resto-
ration of the house of Stuart, education stood at its lowest
ebb, for both men and women, between the morbid narrow-
ness of the Puritan on the one hand and the reaction of a

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTa 677

corrupt court on the other. What wonder that women of
ordinary healthy tastes kept quietly to their home circle of
duties ! There were no stirring events to force them forth ;
the court repelled them from society, and nothing stimu-
lated them to new thought or enterprise; nay, rather
everything was discouraging, as, for instance, the powerful
remonstrance of Bishop Burnet against the proposition for
a ladies* college, set forth in the writings of Mary Astell,
by which that enlightened design was entirely frustrated.
Mary Astell, was, in truth, the forerunner of the pioneer
women of a century later.

It is from this period of decadence that one of the most
unequal of the laws of England is to be dated. The act of
Charles II. taking away the court of wards and liveries
removed the last remnant of the feudal regime and vested
the sole guardianship of children in the father. In replacing
the old feudal system of wardship this law simply ignored
the existence of mothers. Perhaps women had something
to answer for in this oblivion, but we have already shown
how surrounded they were by discouragements, and those
are few at all times who can stand so firmly by their rights
and by their loyalty as Ann Clifford, Countess of Pembroke,
Montgomery, and Dorset. And so from the height of the
Elizabethan the line of the diagram falls below the Saxon
level.

The next century furnishes little to chronicle. Still,
though the ensuing years were dead and dull for women,
the mothers of the men who were laying the foundations
of Greater Britain, and building up our parliamentary sys-
tem at home, must in many a quiet home have preserved

*' An air
Of life's kind purposes pursued
With ordered freedom, sweet and fair."

And

' Kept their own laws, which seem'd to be
The fair sum of six thousand years'
Traditions of civility."

678 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

For here and there — as the portraits of the eighteenth cent-
ury show — individual women appeared, who, each in her
own circle, left an abiding mark. Such women become
more numerous as the century advances ; some marked by
strong religious faith, like Mrs. Wesley, Mrs. Rowe, Selina,
Countess of Huntingdon ; some marked by literary capacity,
like Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, Elizabeth Carter,
Mrs. Montague, and the little company of literary women
associated with them ; some with the reforming spirit, like
Hannah More and Mary Wollstonecraft.

As the nineteenth century opens, these pioneer women
become more numerous. Maria Edgeworth as a novelist is
accompanied by Fanny Bumey, Jane Austen, Mrs. Radcliffe,
Miss Porter, and many more ; Maria Edgeworth as a writer
of juvenile stories finds Mrs. Trimmer, Mrs. Barbauld,
Anne and Jane Taylof coming up side by side with her. It
is indeed significant of their discrimination of the true
value of things that so many of the best women of the time
devoted so much of their best work to books for children ;
and here Mrs. Marcet, Mrs. Howitt, and Miss Martineau,
should be included, for of all the good work they have done
none is better than the good work they have done for
young people.

This period may be described as the period of individual
workers. Each one of these remarkable women stood alone
in her work, but with far-reaching influence on the culture
of the future. And here, also, another significant circum-
stance calls for notice, that those who have had this wide
influence have in so many cases had exceptional advantages
in their own education. It was for women generally, as
Mrs. Delany wrote, in 1770, ** rather a hardship on our sex
that we have in general our own education to seek after we
are grown up — I mean as to mental qualifications." But
there were some who shared the more robust teaching
awarded to boys. Lady Mary Wortley Montague received
the same education as her brother. Elizabeth Carter was
educated by her father, who made no distinction in the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 679

Studies of his sons and daughters. Hannah More learned
much from her father. Maria Edgeworth was her father's
companion in all his pursuits. Harriet Martineau and
Mary Carpenter are later instances of the same thing, each
going to the same school and having the same lessons as
her brothers.

Thus individual women were slowly preparing the way to
a higher level of intellectual culture, and making it possible
for what in the beginning of the century was the exception,
to be at the end of the century almost the rule. But mean-
time the low level to which the standard of interests for
women in general had fallen had left them defenseless
against a sweeping stroke of legislation, from which they
have not yet recovered. The old privilege of voting which
women had enjoyed in many places under various old local
franchises had fallen into disuse under the discouragements
of all the past periods of depression, and this discourage-
ment was sanctioned and sealed, so to speak, politically, by
the Reform Act of 1832. The introduction of the one word
** male *' (before persons) incapacitated women from sharing
in any of the new privileges of the act. At the time this
was noticed by only a very few, and a similar stroke followed
as regards municipal votes in 1835 — yet both acts in reality
contravened the old traditional principle that a woman
when placed by birth or circumstances in the position of a
man should have the rights and duties of that position ; a
principle by virtue of which, in 1837, Queen Victoria
ascended the throne.

The agitations against slavery and against the com laws
both appealed strongly to women's interests, and both were
powerful factors in the education of thoughtful minds in
the first half of this century, and prepared women for the
associated work in connection with their own progress
in public interests which is one of the most marked
features of the second half of this century. From the
year 1848, when Lady Stanley of Alderly founded Queen's
College (Harley Street, London) as a school of higher edu-

680 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

cation for girls, the line begins to rise and continues to
rise rapidly.

Miss Barbara Leigh Smith (afterward Madame Bodichon)
wrote her pamphlet, " A Summary of the Laws Relating to
Women," which contributed much to the progress of thought
on this subject, in 1854. Her powerful mind brought round
her a small band of young and earnest women, possessed of
culture, of ardor, and of independent means, who set their
heads, their hands and hearts, their money, their strength
and time, to obtain the amendment of the laws relating to
married women, to open new avenues of employment for
women, and to combat false prejudices against women's
earning for themselves.

The terrible wrongs which the then existing laws relat-
ing to the status of married women had brought on a
lady of such conspicuous talent and high rank as the Hon-
orable Mrs. Norton had first drawn public attention to the
crying evil of perpetuating laws which were wholly out of
harmony with their time and were virtually a survival of
prefeudal days. The aid of the newly formed association
for promotion of social science, with Lord Brougham at its
head, was enlisted ; many petitions were sent to Parliament,
and the agitation began which by the successive acts of
1870, 1874, and 1882 has at length placed married women
on an equitable footing, with respect to property.

Meantime Miss Leigh Smith and her associated workers,
foremost among whom were Miss Rayner Parkes, Jessie
Boucherett, and Adelaide Anne Procter, aided by the sym-
pathetic counsel of Mrs. Jameson, had in 1858 started the
Englislnvomen s Journal, the second shilling monthly maga-
zine in England. In the following year they opened an
employment and registry office for women. So began what
may be described as the period of associated effort among
women. Then as the reform act of 1867 approached, and
the extension of the parliamentary franchise to householders
occupied men's minds, these women felt that the time was
come to make an effort to press the equal claim of women
to direct representation.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 681

This agitation drew forth one of those strong characters
that appear in times of need. As one of the early band of
workers has said to the writer of this paper, alone they
never could have borne the shots that greet the advance-
gfiiard. " She bore the shots ; " her calm judgment, joined
with an enthusiasm too deep-seated to be daunted, too con-
trolled to be excited, made Lydia ^ecVier facile princeps the
general of the women's suffrage movement, and in her
hands it became the pivot of all the other movements.

The restoration of municipal rights, the placing of women
on equal terms with men in the newly constituted school
boards, followed quickly. The restoration of many old
educational endowments, the formation of public day-
schools for girls and of colleges for women, the opening of
the medical profession, and of university examinations
were the fruits of the labors of yet others of the pioneers.
Nor were these the only pioneers. Women like Florence
Nightingale, who gave the impetus to the great change
that has come over our nursing ; Miss Weston, whose home
for sailors last year brought rest and comfort to one
hundred and fifteen thousand of her majesty's navy ; Miss
Robinson, whose work for soldiers and for soldiers' families
is similarly extensive ; Miss Twining, who first called
attention to the needs of workhouses for more housewifely
housekeeping ; Mrs. Senior, who proved how the children
in the nurseries of the state needed "mothering." These,
and other women working beside them, have given prac-
tical proof that women have organizing and administrative
powers that can be of no mean service to the state.

Already the rising generation of pupils of the new
schools and colleges are bringing about practical refutation
of many favorite assertions of what woman should not do,
and could not do, e. g., they could not master mathematics,
yet it is the study in which they excel ! They could not
paint great pictures or compose great music. The works
exhibited in the Woman's Building tell how far they have
advanced in both these arts in a few short years of equal

682 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Study. Well may women work on in the calm and con-
fidence which are strength.

A Century of Progress for Women in Canada — An
Address by Mary McDonnell of Canada, Represent-
ative OF the Dominion Women's Christian Temper-
ance Union.

It is difficult to realize the steady onward march made by
the women of Canada during the last quarter of a century.
Before that time women entered very few remunerative
occupations, but now, with the progress of the modern
industrial system, there appears to be no limit to their
opportunities. The active interest women are taking in all
the great questions of the day is in marked contrast to the
apathy and indifference of twenty-five years ago.

Our women have organized missionary, philanthropic,
temperance, educational, and political associations on a
scale of great magnitude, without much " blowing of trum-
pets or unseemly boasting." The Canadian woman's develop-
ment has been aided very materially by the provincial enact-
ments, which secured to her increased educational advan-
tages, municipal and school suffrage, more just and humane
property rights, as well as a right to enter the professions.
In securing to women enlarged opportunities, provincial
law-makers have placed our young nation on a higher
plane, for it is a well-known fact that the civilization of a
nation may be ascertained to-day more truly by the eco-
nomic and social status of its women than by its consump-
tion of coal, lumber, or pig-iron.

Therefore, while under heavy obligations to our provin-
cial Parliament for past favors, we feel that the time has
come when the question of women's further advancement
should receive its thoughtful consideration. The woman
suffrage question is now world-wide, and the women who
have led the Canadian contingent have had the moral sup-

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 688

port of the best men of Canada. Thus encouraged, we are
proud to say that we have kept pace with the women of
other countries.

But the steps of progress already achieved were not
gained without a struggle, as the pioneers are ready to
attest. From the married woman's property act of 1872,
down to the latest conquest, the right of women to practice
law, every right claimed has been contested; ridicule, mal-
ice, indifference, and conservatism have in turn been met
and surmounted, until now the question of woman's com-
plete political enfranchisement stands before every legis-
lative body in Canada, and challenges final consideration.

In its progress it has benefited all and injured none.
The right to earn, hold, enjoy, and devise property are
proud and notable gains. The doors of colleges and uni-
versities no longer creak their dismay at the approach of
women. New avenues of self-support have been found
and profitably entered upon. In public affairs Canadian
women receive large recognition ; at the present time we
have women on high and public school boards ; and in the
management of business affairs women have demonstrated
to the public that they have heads as well as hearts.

Every step thus far taken to enlarge the sphere of women
has been a benefit to her, to man, and to society. We can
see no good reason for stopping here. Just at this point it
would be quite in order to consider a few objections met
with by the advocates of women's enfranchisement in
Canada.

Objectors urge disability to perform military service as
fatal to full citizenship, but would not consent to resign
their own rights, even when they have passed the age of
conscription, nor question those of Quakers, who will not
fight, or of professional men or civic officials, who, like
mothers, are regarded as of more value to the nation at
home. They cite the physical superiority of man, but
would not agree to disfranchise the halt, the lame, the
blind, or the sick.

684 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN,

Since questions of peace, of arbitration, and of reconcilia-
tion have superseded those of war and conquest, physical
force is at a discount. Reason and justice applied to
human affairs mark the spirit of the nineteenth century ;
and, as has been demonstrated recently, wars may be
avoided with safety and honor to a nation. Many of us
think that the money now expended on military equipment
might be diverted into more useful channels.

Men regard the manly head of the family as its proper
representative, but would not exclude the adult sons.

They are dismayed by a vision of women in attendance
at caucuses at late hours of the night, but enjoy their pres-
ence at entertainments and balls until early dawn. They
are shocked at the thought of women at political meetings,
but in Canada women have attended such meetings for
years at the earnest solicitation of those in charge, and the
influence of their presence has been for good.

The often-urged fear that only the degraded would vote,
while the intelligent and the virtuous would stand aloof, is
fully answered by the fact that the former class have never
asked for the ballot, while the women who ask for full suf-
frage are from among the most-honored women in Canada.
Again, it is said that only the strong-minded would vote.
We can see no objection to this provided the line be drawn
irrespective of sex.

Men would not like to see women exposed to the g^oss-
ness and vulgarity of public life, they tell us, or have her
encounter the rough element one meets at the polls. When
we who have mingled among men and women in every
walk of life hear men talk of sheltering women from the
rough winds and revolting scenes of real life, we pause
and wonder if they know whereof they speak, for it seems
to us that whatever the man may be, he is known to the
woman. She is the companion not only of the accom-
plished statesman, the orator, and the scholar, but of the
vile, the vulgar, yes, and the brutal ; all these classes are
bound by the ties of family to some women, and if a man

• •••
• ••

• • •

•*••• ••••

••• ••*

Mrs. John Harvik.

Lillian M. K. Stevens.

(iENEVIEVE STEBBINS.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 686

shows out what he is anywhere, it is at his own hearthstone ;
besides, the women who have voted for years in municipal
and school elections attest that even the most degraded
are a little more manly at the polls than elsewhere. This
is quite natural, for in the eyes of men women voters rank
much higher than the disfranchised class.

Those in power always manifest nervous unrest when-
ever new claims are made by those out of power, even
though the request of the claimants may be just and rea-
sonable. They imagine that if the request of the claimant
be granted, they must of necessity sacrifice something that
they already possess ;' they can not divest themselves of
the idea that individual rights are very much like land,
stocks, bonds, and mortgages, and that if every new claim-
ant is satisfied the supply must in time run out, forgetting
the fact that in this case it is individual rights, and that
though thousands of women may be deprived of the ballot
their poverty in this respect does not add to the man's
wealth.

We are told that the right of suffrage inheres in the
people ; women are people. Again, it is said law to bind
all should be assented to by all ; for that reason women
should have a voice in selecting those who make the law.

Men claim the right of the governed and the taxed to a
voice in determining by whom they shall be governed, and
to what extent taxed. What justification can be offered for
the exclusion of women ? Women work in the home, but it
does not follow that their place is solely in the home, any
more than that the farmer should never leave his farm, the
mechanic his shop, the teacher his desk, the clergyman his
study, or the professional man his office for the purpose of
expressing his views at the ballot-box.

It is not enough that men assert the superiority of Cana-
dian women in intelligence and virtue. We want them to
consider the gain to the country in their further advance-
ment.

I think that most of us have come to feel that a voice in

45

686 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the laws is indispensable. Experience has fully proved to
us that the influence which we are said to possess is vague
and somewhat powerless until coined into law, and that
without a direct voice in legislation women's influence is
eventually lost. If we have, as is claimed, influence, we
should also share in the responsibility, even as we now share
with man in his education, his amusements, his work, and
his religion. When we are told that politics are unclean, as
a remedy we would suggest cleaner politicians. We do not
share in the fears of our opponents that politics will degrade
women ; on the contrary, we believe that women will purify
politics. When women vote, the character of candidates wnll
be more closely scrutinized and better ofiicers will be chosen
to administer the laws. The polls too will be freed from
the vulgarity and coarseness which now too often surround
them, and the polling booths, instead of being in stables and
kindred places (now thought quite good enough for the
electorate), would then be located in more attractive centers.

We believe that when woman takes her place in the body
politic, politics will be invested with a dignity and serious-
ness worthy the science of government.

Man has done well in his onward march, but man alone
can not grasp the needs of a whole humanity.

Political questions do not mean merely questions of
finance, of currency, of tariffs, and of railways. The great
questions of the future will be economic and social ones.
Moral questions also are involved, and deeply involved, in
politics.

We often hear it asserted that the voice of the people is
the voice of God. If that be true the voice of God has
never yet been heard in human governments, for half the
race is silent.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 687

A Century of Progress for Women in Canada — An
Address by A. M. Blakely of Canada, Representa-
tive OF THE Dominion Women's Christian Temper-
ance Union.

The previous speaker has given such an eloquent and
exhaustive paper on the progress of women in Canada in
general that she has not left much for me to say. I shall
therefore confine my remarks to the women of my own
northwestern province, Manitoba.

We have large numbers of bright, intelligent women, who
have come from some of the best homes of our eastern prov-
inces. Many of them are decidedly more conservative
than our American sisters, but are gradually coming to the
front on the woman question in all its phases.

We have already municipal and school suffrage. We
have not yet had a woman elected to a school board, but
one school district has a lady serving as secretary and
treasurer. The professions of teaching and medicine are
open to our women. Our provincial university admits
women, and from year to year numbers of them take the
degree of B. A.

I am sorry to say the legal profession has not yet opened
its doors to our women. The civil service, however, is open
to women. In this department we have one bright ex-
ample. The accountant of the educational department is
a woman. She has full charge of the disbursement of the
large legislative grant for our public schools throughout
the province. She has performed her work in such a way
as to reflect credit on her sex, and to show that women are
quite as capable as men of filling such positions.

I have already said that the women of Manitoba are more
conservative than the women of the United States. This
was clearly demonstrated last winter in the city of Winnipeg
when I was arranging to hold the woman's mock parliament,
to bring the question of full suffrage for women before the

688 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

people, just previous to petitioning our local legislature for
the same.

The idea was a new one. I met with no little opposition.
Some of our women thought it would be placing ourselves
in too conspicuous a position to appear before the public as
a parliament of women. After much difficulty I secured the
cooperation of twenty-four earnest Christian women. We
held our mock parliament in the opera house, and conducted
it in accordance with the rules and regulations of our local
legislature, with the one exception that we opened the
session with prayer. We had five clever lady speakers, three
on the government side and two on the opposition. Of course
our bill for full franchise was made a government measure.
The members of our local legislature, which was then in
session, omitted their own evening session and came in a body
to our parliament, accepting the front seats, which had been
reserved for them. They were both surprised and delighted
with the strong arguments and eloquence of the lady speak-
ers, and went away thoroughly convinced that our women
are quite as well qualified as men to conduct a parliament.
This entertainment did more to educate the people of our
province on the franchise question than years of ordinary
agitation could have done. A few days later, when our
resolution came before the house, not one speaker opposed
the principle of the resolution. They promised to give us
full suffrage as soon as they were convinced that women
really wanted it. They did not wish to impose any added
responsibility on us that we might not want. Our Canadian
legislators are so considerate. I presume you find them
equally so in the United States.

Our province of Manitoba is still young, and our numbers
comparatively small, but with the high moral sentiment and
the courage of their convictions that many of our women
have we expect and intend to take no second place to any
province in the Dominion of Canada, or to any state in this
grand republic, on the woman question.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS.

DISCUSSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT BY MRS. JOHN HARVIE OF
CANADA, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRIS-
TIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF CANADA.

Twenty-five years ago a wonderful change came upon
our women, and the first woman's foreign missionary
society in Canada was organized in the city of Montreal.
That society has grown year by year, and has sent mis-
sionaries all over the face of the earth. It was not denomi-
national, and three years ago it died a graceful, natural
death because every single denomination in Canada had
organized its woman's board of missions. Last year the
Woman's Board of Missions in connection with the Meth-
odist church raised thirty-six thousand dollars to send the
gospel to China and Japan and the Northwest, and this
year the Woman's Board of Missions in connection with
the Presbjrterian church has raised fifty-eight thousand
dollars.

DISCUSSION CONTINUED BY EMILY CUMMINGS OF CANADA.

We have other women in Canada besides white women,
and I am going to tell you something about the Indian
women. I visited some Indians two years ago who are
now in the same condition that the Ontario Indians were
one hundred years ago. I visited several tribes of Indians
who in dress and habits were thorough savages.

The women are intensely fond of their children, and if a
child dies they cut their legs in long gashes, and go around
uttering piercing cries of sorrow. To appease the great
spirit of the sun they chop off their fingers sometimes. I
saw many women with their fingers chopped off for this
purpose.

I saw other Indians who had been in contact with white
people only a very few years. Something like ten years

690 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ago they were taken in charge by the government, and
others have been in contact with civilization for about forty
years. They live in neat homes and have nice little farms.
A great many of them can read and write, and they are
wonderfully advanced when you think it is only forty
years since they were like the others I have spoken of.

Coming down to Ontario, let me tell you with pride that
we have there an Indian woman who is a noted poetess,
who stands high in literature, whose contributions to
literature you have often read, I am sure — Pauline Johnson
by name. She is a great elocutionist^ and is welcomed by
large audiences wherever she may appear. Her sister,
also, though not a poetess or an orator, is highly thought of
in literature, and has contributed to a great many maga-
zines. To show that these women are not the only ones
who are advanced, I might say that at our last year's
missionary meeting two delegates came from an Indian
woman's missionary society, and although they could not
understand a word of what was said, a lady interpreted for
them, and they discussed all the questions and voted just
as intelligently as any white woman in that audience.

The Progress of Women in New South Wales — Ad-

DRESS BY C. C. MoNTEFIORE OF SYDNEY, NeW SOUTH

Wales.

It will perhaps not be surprising to those who see the
part played by women in the United States to learn that
in the Australian colonies also women have for some time
past taken a share in the literary, artistic, and university
life of our great cities. The principal universities have
thrown open their doors to women students, who have not
been slow to avail themselves of the advantages thus
offered them. There are at present over ninety students
at the Sydney University, some studying for medical and
others for art degrees. Two women who obtained the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 891

degree of M. A. at the Sydney University were last year
appointed tutors to the women students. There are already
two women practitioners of medicine in Sydney, who passed
all their examinations at the Sydney University in a most
creditable manner. One woman who obtained the degree
of bachelor in science is now at the head of the Ipswich
Girls' Grammar School.

A considerable number of women are now engaged in
the active pursuit of journalism as a profession, and from
among them and other women of literary tastes has sprung
the Women's Literary Society, which, inaugurated in the
year 1890 with thirteen members, now numbers over a
hundred, and at its bi-monthly meetings debates on various
literary and social subjects are held.

At the recent spring exhibition of the Art Society of
New South Wales, out of a total of ninety-one exhibitors
forty-one were women. In music, toward which there is a
strong leaning throughout Australia, the women of New
South Wales have not been behindhand. Examinations in
connection with Trinity College, London, are held annually
in Sydney, a large proportion of women being among the
successful candidates. In the Sydney Amateur Orchestral
Society there are several women among the first and second
violins.

Nor have the women of New South Wales shown them-
selves behind in their interest in political matters, as is
proved by the existence of a womanhood suffrage league,
which was established in 1891, and now numbers close upon
five hundred members. It may be mentioned that the
report of this league for 1893 was printed at an ofiice con-
ducted by women.

There is also a ladies* sanitary association in Sydney
which is doing useful work by the dissemination of
hygienic principles among the poorer classes.

If this brief record of women's progress in New South
Wales should seem small and insignificant it must be borne
in mind that these colonies are, comparatively speaking,

692 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

young, and that it is only within very recent years that
there has been leisure for the cultivation of the higher
faculties among either men or women.

Our Debt to Zurich — Address by Helen D. Webster
OF Massachusetts, Professor in Wellesley Col-
lege.

This subject, " Our Debt to Zurich," was to have been pre-
sented by Frau Dr. Emilie Kempin. Frau Doctor Kempin
does not appear, and I must express my deep regret that she
is not here. I wish every one of you might hear what we
all want to know from the lips of Mrs. Kempin, and my
reason for wishing this is that Frau Doctor Kempin has had
a remarkable and unique experience at the University of
Zurich. She is a graduate of the school of law at this
university. You know the saying that it is an ill wind
which blows no one good, and it has occurred to me that I
can make use of her absence to say something about her.
I was myself a student in the school of philosophy at
the University of Zurich at the time when Frau Doctor
Kempin first made her request to be admitted to the depart-
ment of law at this university as a professor. The request
was a great surprise to the faculty of the university, and
immediately, when they were called upon to answer this
question, they said, " Can we admit a woman to teach our
men law ? " They referred to their statutes, and there they
saw that German word " Mann " — only the word " Mann " ;
only men might teach at the University of Zurich. Then
there came the question, " Is a woman a man ? " This they
considered and considered ; and as in every question there
are two sides, the one side said the German woman is a
man ; the other side said the German woman is not a man ;
and the larger number said the latter, and so for a time
Frau Doctor Kempin was not allowed to read law to the
university students of Zurich. Did Frau Doctor Kempin

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 893

immediately retire into a corner and say, " Very well ; then
I can not " ? No. She then said, " I can read lectures of
law wherever I will." She announced that in the dining-
room of a neighboring place she would read lectures on
law ; if students wished to come and hear her they might
come, and that is what actually happened. She did read
lectures on law, and there were students who went to
hear her. After that she came, as doubtless you all know,
to the United States of America to arouse an interest here
among women to study law. She remained in New York
City for two years stirring up the women to do what they
could toward making a school of law for women. After she
had finished this work she returned to Zurich, and again
she put the old question to the faculty of the Univer-
sity of Zurich, "Will you allow me to read as a Privat
Decent? '' The question was now for a second time dis-
cussed. It was discussed by the faculty of the University
of Zurich ; it was discussed by the authorities on education
for the Republic of Switzerland, and the answer was, " We
can not justly exclude women from teaching at the Univer-
sity of Zurich." Now Doctor Kempin, therefore, is one of
the faculty of the University of Zurich ; one of the first
women who ever have taught in a European university —
at least I will not say ever, but in this nineteenth century.
And now about our university. Our university, as you
know through this experience, has done its utmost for
women ; and what more can a university do than to teach
women and to give them a chance to teach ? She has shown
her faith in women by doing them justice, and it is for this
reason that we have wished to pay to the University at
Zurich our grateful homage. The position which the uni-
versity holds toward woman is a most praiseworthy one.
It is not merely because she admits women to all her
privileges on the same conditions on which she admits
men, for in this she is not alone — other institutions do that ;
but it is because she has done it simply because it is the
just thing to do. It is not because hosts of women have

694 • CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

besieged her doors and have clamored for admission until
she could not do otherwise than admit them, but she has
done it because it was the simple, the natural, the right
thing to do, to admit them to the advantages of the student
and to the privileges of the teacher.

At the time that the news reached the United States that
Frau Doctor Kempin had been admitted to the teaching corps
of the University of Zurich it happened that in the city
of Boston the president of Harvard University was ad-
dressing large audiences on the subject of education. In
one of his lectures he took occasion to say that in women's
colleges the equipment was poor and the teaching force
was of an inferior quality; that, although women had
colleges, yet men had the best colleges. We did not learn
that this distinguished lecturer brought out this point for
the sake of showing the unfairness of the condition; we
did not learn that he himself thought that it ought to be
otherwise; we did not hear him say that that school
which has grown up by the side of Harvard University,
and which has shown itself worthy in every respect, pre-
eminently worthy to become an organic part of Harvard
University, ought to share the best things which the men
of Harvard enjoy. How great the contrast between these
two great universities ! The women of the world owe it to
the University of Zurich that she has struck the key-note
of justice to women, thus making the false note of injustice
the more distinctly heard around the world. It is not
merely in the fact that Zurich teaches women, and also
does not deny them the opportunity to teach in her walls,
that she has made the women of all the world her debtors.
It is in what she teaches, no less than in the fact that she
allows women to learn, that she has made women her
debtors. She teaches, first of all, the art of plain living
and high thinking. She teaches devotion to learning and
to science. It is not on her boat-crews, it is not on her
trained athletes that she relies for distinction. She does not
furnish entertainments for the diversion of her students.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS.' 695

She does not provide amusement for the public in order
to win public favor. It is in the achievements of her
ablest professors, in the new recruits which she brings
to the cause of science, that she crowns her hope. It is in
truly cultivating her best intellectual power, in propagating
knowledge, and in extending the bounds of the known
through original investigation and research, that she looks
for her success. Let the women of the world rejoice that
opportunities like these are accessible to them. Let them
not forget that with all such new privileges which come to
them their responsibility is so much increased. Let them
remember that the coming centuries are going to answer
the question which has been so often asked in the nine-
teenth century, "Are women capable of performing the
tasks which require serious effort of the intellect ? "

DISCUSSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT BY KIRSTINE FRED-
ERIKSEN OF DENMARK, PRESIDENT OF THE DANSK
KVINDESAMFUND.

Will you permit me to repeat one of the sayings of a dis-
tingfuished lady who was telling us about the studies and
the universities of Europe ? I want to repeat this saying
because I do want you not to misunderstand it, as you
might. She said that Frau Doctor Kempin of Zurich was
one of the first ladies to teach in a university of Europe,
and I want it to be impressed on you that she is not the
first. The first was Professor Karlensky, Russian born,
called to Sweden ; and this lady died two years ago, in her
thirty-fourth year. I think she has achieved as much as
hundreds of other women together. She obtained the very
highest prize in mathematics in Paris, and did the work so
well that the prize was doubled, for they did not know it
was a woman when they awarded it to her. And she has
made herself noted as one of the very best novelists of
Europe ; and when she died she was mourned not only in
Scandinavia, but to the farthest parts of Europe.

696 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women
OF THE United States since the Emancipation
Proclamation — An Address by Fannie Barrier
Williams of Illinois.

Less than thirty years ago the term progress as applied
to colored women of African descent in the United States
would have been an anomaly. The recognition of that
term to^iay as appropriate is a fact full of interesting signifi-
cance. That the discussion of progressive womanhood in
this great assemblage of the representative women of the
world is considered incomplete without some account of the
colored women's status is a most noteworthy evidence that
we have not failed to impress ourselves on the higher side
of American life.

Less is known of our women than of any other class of
Americans.

No organization of far-reaching influence for their special
advancement, no conventions of women to take note of
their progress, and no special literature reciting the inci-
dents, the events, and all things interesting and instructive
concerning them are to be found among the agencies direct-
ing their career. There has been no special interest in
their peculiar condition as native-bom American women.
Their power to affect the social life of America, either for
good or for ill, has excited not even a speculative interest.

Though there is much that is sorrowful, much that is
wonderfully heroic, and much that is romantic in a peculiar
way in their history, none of it has as yet been told as evi-
dence of what is possible for these women. How few of the
happy, prosperous, and eager living Americans can appre-
ciable what it all means to be suddenly changed from irre-
sponsible bondage to the responsibility of freedom and
citizenship !

The distress of it all can never be told, and the pain of it
all can never be felt except by the victims, and by those

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 697

saintly women of the white race who for thirty years have
been consecrated to the uplifting of a whole race of women
from a long-enforced degradation.

The American people have always been impatient of
ignorance and poverty. They believe with Emerson that
" America is another word for opportunity/* and for that
reason success is a virtue and poverty and ignorance are
inexcusable. This may account for the fact that our women
have excited no general sympathy in the struggle to eman-
cipate themselves from the demoralization of slavery.
This new life of freedom, with its far-reaching respon-
sibilities, had to be learned by these children of darkness
mostly without a guide, a teacher, or a friend. In the mean
vocabulary of slavery there was no definition of any of the
virtues of life. The meaning of such precious terms as
marriage, wife, family, and home could not be learned in a
school-house. The blue-back speller, the arithmetic, and
the copy-book contain no magical cures for inherited inapt-,
itudes for the moralities. Yet it must ever be counted as
one of the most wonderful things in human history how
promptly and eagerly these suddenly liberated women
tried to lay hold upon all that there is in human excel-
lence. There is a touching pathos in the eagerness of
these millions of new home-makers to taste the blessedness
of intelligent womanhood. The path of progress in the
picture is enlarged so as to bring to view these trustful and
zealous students of freedom and civilization striving to
overtake and keep pace with women. whose emancipation
has been a slow and painful process for a thousand years.
The longing to be something better than they were when
freedom found them has been the most notable character-
istic in the development of these women. This constant
striving for equality has given an upward direction to all
the activities of colored women.

Freedom at once widened their vision beyond the mean
cabin life of their bondage. Their native gentleness, good
cheer, and hoi>efulnes5 made them susceptible to those

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

teachings that make for intelligence and righteousness.
Sullenness of disposition,- hatefulness, and revenge against
the master class because of two centuries of ill-treatment
are not in the nature of our women.

But a better view of what our women are doing and
what their present status is may be had by noticing some
lines of progress that are easily verifiable.

First it should be noticed that separate facts and figures
relative to colored women are not easily obtainable.
Among the white women of the country independence,
progressive intelligence, and definite interests have done
so much that nearly every fact and item illustrative of their
progress and status is classified and easily accessible. Our
women, on the contrary, have had no advantage of interests
peculiar and distinct and separable from those of men that
have yet excited public attention and kindly recognition.

In their religious life, however, our women show a pro-
g^essiveness parallel in every important particular to that
of white women in all Christian churches. It has always
been a circumstance of the highest satisfaction to the mis-
sionary efforts of the Christian church that the colored
people are so susceptible to a religion that marks the high-
est point of blessedness in human history.

Instead of finding witchcraft, sensual fetiches, and the
coarse superstitions of savagery possessing our women,
Christianity found them with hearts singularly tender,
sympathetic, and fit for the reception of its doctrines.
Their superstitions were not deeply ingrained, but were of
the same sort and nature that characterize the devotees of
the Christian faith everywhere.

While there has been but little progress toward the
growing rationalism in the Christian creeds, there has been
a marked advance toward a greater refinement of concep-
tion, good taste, and the proprieties. It is our young women
coming out of the schools and academies that have been
insisting upon a more godly and cultivated ministry. It is
the young women of a new generation and new inspirations

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. t)99

that are making tramps of the ministers who once domi-
nated the colored church, and whose intelligence and piety
were mostly in their lungs. In this new and growing relig-
ions life the colored people have laid hold of those sweeter
influences of the King's Daughters, of the Christian En-
deavor and Helping Hand societies, which are doing much
to elevate the tone of worship and to magnify all that there
is blessed in religion.

Another evidence of growing intelligence is a sense of
religious discrimination among our women. Like the
nineteenth century woman generally, our women find con-
geniality in all the creeds, from the Catholic creed to the
no-creed of Emerson. There is a constant increase of this
interesting variety in the religious life of our women.

Closely allied to this religious development is their prog-
ress in the work of education in schools and colleges. For
thirty years education has been the magic word among the
colored people of this country. That their greatest need
was education in its broadest sense was understood by these
people more strongly than it could be taught to them. It is
the unvarying testimony of every teacher in the South
that the mental development of the colored women as well
as men has been little less than phenomenal. In twenty-five
years, and under conditions discouraging in the extreme,
thousands of our women have been educated as teachers.
They have adapted themselves to the work of mentally lift-
ing a whole race of people so eagerly and readily that they
afford an apt illustration of the power of self-help. Not
only have these women become good teachers in less than
twenty-five years, but many of them are the prize teachers
in the mixed schools of nearly every Northern city.

These women have also so fired the hearts of the race for
education that colleges, normal schools, industrial schools,
and universities have been reared by a generous public to
meet the requirements of these eager students of intelligent
citizenship. As American women generally are fighting
against the nineteenth century narrowness that still keeps

700 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

women out of the higher institutions of learning, so our
women are eagerly demanding the best of education open
to their race. They continually verify what President
Rankin of Howard University recently said, " Any theory
of educating the Afro-American that does not throw open
the golden gates of the highest culture will fail on the
ethical and spiritual side."

It is thus seen that our women have the same spirit and
mettle that characterize the best of American women.
Everywhere they are following in the tracks of those
women who are swiftest in the race for higher knowledge.

To-day they feel strong enough to ask for but one thing,
and that is the same opportunity for the acquisition of all
kinds of knowledge that may be accorded to other women.
This granted, in the next generation these progressive
women will be found successfully occupying every field
where the highest intelligence alone is admissible. In less
than another generation American literature, American
art, and American music will be enriched by productions
having new and peculiar features of interest and excellence.

The exceptional career of our women will yet stamp itself
indelibly upon the thought of this country.

American literature needs for its greater variety and its
deeper soundings that which will be written into it out of
the hearts of these self-emancipating women.

The great problems of social reform that are now so
engaging the highest intelligence of American women will
soon need for their solution the reinforcement of that new
intelligence which our women are developing. In short,
our women are ambitious to be contributors to all the great
moral and intellectual forces that make for the greater weal
of our common country.

If this hope seems too extravagant to those of you who
know these women only in their humbler capacities, I would
remind you that all that we hope for and will certainly
achieve in authorship and practical intelligence is more
than prophesied by what has already been done, and more

OcTAViA Williams Bates.
Mary McDonnel. Sigrih Storckenfeldt.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 701

that can be done, by hundreds of Afro-American women
whose talents are now being expended in the struggle
against race resistance.

The power of organized womanhood is one of the most
interesting studies of modem sociology. Formerly women
knew so little of each other mentally, their common inter-
ests were so sentimental and gossipy, and their knowledge
of all the larger affairs of human society was so meager
that organization among them, in the modern sense, was
impossible. Now their liberal intelligence, their contact
in all the great interests of education, and their increasing
influence for good in all the great reformatory movements
of the age has created in them a greater respect for each
other, and furnished the elements of organization for large
and splendid purposes. The highest ascendancy of woman's
development has been reached when they have become
mentally strong enough to find bonds of association inter-
woven with sympathy, loyalty, and mutual trustfulness.
To-day union is the watchword of woman's onward march.

If it be a fact that this spirit of organization among
women generally is the distinguishing mark of the nine-
teenth century woman, dare we ask if the colored women of
the United States have made any progress in this respect ?

For peculiar and painful reasons the great lessons of
fraternity and altruism are hard for the colored women to
learn. Emancipation found the colored Americans of the
South with no sentiments of association. It will be admit-
ted that race misfortune could scarcely go further when the
terms fraternity, friendship, and unity had no meaning for
its men and women.

If within thirty years they have begun to recognize the
blessed significance of these vital terms of human society,
confidence in their social development should be strengfth-
ened. In this important work of bringing the race together
to know itself and to unite in work for a common destiny,
the women have taken a leading part.

Benevolence is the essence of most of the colored

46

702 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

women's organizations. The humane side of their natures
has been cultivated to recognize the duties they owe to
the sick, the indigent and ill-fortuned. No church, school,
or charitable institution for the special use of colored
people has been allowed to languish or fail when the asso-
ciated efforts of the women could save it.

It is highly significant and interesting to note that these
women, whose hearts have been wrung by all kinds of sor-
rows, are abundantly manifesting those gracious qualities
of heart that characterize women of the best type. These
kinder sentiments arising from mutual interests that are
lifting our women into purer and tenderer relationship to
each other, and are making the meager joys and larger griefs
of our conditions known to each other, have been a large
part of their education.

The hearts of Afro-American women are too warm and
too large for race hatred. Long suflfering has so chastened
them that they are developing a special sense of sympathy
for all who suffer and fail of justice. All the associated
interests of church, temperance, and social reform in which
American women are winning distinction can be wonder-
fully advanced when our women shall be welcomed as
co-workers, and estimated solely by what they are worth to
the moral elevation of all the people.

I regret the necessity of speaking to the question of the
moral progress of our women, because the morality of our
home life has been commented upon so disparagingly and
meanly that we are placed in the unfortunate position of
being defenders of our name.

It is proper to state, with as much emphasis as possible,
that all questions relative to the moral progress of the col-
ored women of America are impertinent and unjustly sug-
gestive when they relate to the thousands of colored
women in the North who were free from the vicious influ-
ences of slavery. They are also meanly suggestive as
regards thousands of our women in the South whose force
of character enabled them to escape the slavery taints of

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 703

immorality. The question of the moral progress of colored
women in the United States has force and meaning in this
discussion only so far as it tells the story of how the once-
enslaved women have been struggling for twenty-five years
to emancipate themselves from the demoralization of their
enslavement.

While I duly appreciate the oflfensiveness of all refer-
ences to American slavery, it is unavoidable to charge to
that system every moral imperfection that mars the char-
acter of the colored American. The whole life and power
of slavery depended upon an enforced degradation of
everything human in the slaves. The slave code recog-
nized only animal distinctions between the sexes, and
ruthlessly ignored those ordinary separations that belong
to the social state.

It is a great wonder that two centuries of such demorali-
zation did not work a complete extinction of all the moral
instincts. But the recuperative power of these women to
regain their moral instincts and to establish a respectable
relationship to American womanhood is among the earlier
evidences of their moral ability to rise above their condi-
tions. In spite of a cursed heredity that bound them to the
lowest social level, in spite of everjrthing that is unfortu-
nate and unfavorable, these women have continually shown
an increasing degree of teachableness as to the meaning of
woman's relationship to man.

Out of this social purification and moral uplift have come
a chivalric sentiment and regard from the young men of
the race that give to the young women a new sense of pro-
tection. I do not wish to disturb the serenity of this con-
ference by suggesting why this protection is needed and
the kind of men against whom it is needed.

It is sufficient for us to know that the daughters of
women who thirty years ago were not allowed to be mod-
est, not allowed to follow the instincts of moral rectitude,
who could cry for protection to no living man, have so ele-
vated the moral tone of their social life that new and purer

704 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Standards of personal worth have been created, and new
ideals of womanhood, instinct with grace and delicacy, are
everywhere recognized and emulated.

This moral regeneration of a whole race of women is no
idle sentiment — it is a serious business ; and everywhere
there is witnessed a feverish anxiety to be free from the
mean suspicions that have so long underestimated the char-
acter strength of our women.

These women are not satisfied with the unmistakable fact
that moral progress has been made, but they are fervently
impatient and stirred by a sense of outrage under the vile
imputations of a diseased public opinion.

Loves that are free from the dross of coarseness, affec-
tions that are unsullied, and a proper sense of all the sancti-
ties of human intercourse felt by thousands of these women
all over the land plead for the recognition of their fitness to
be judged, not by the standards of slavery, but by the higher
standards of freedom and of twenty-five years of education,
culture, and moral contact.

The moral aptitudes of our women are just as strong and
just as weak as those of any other American women with
like advantages of intelligence and environment.

It may now perhaps be fittingly asked. What mean all these
evidences of mental, social, and moral progress of a class of
American women of whom you know so little ? Certainly
you can not be indifferent to the growing needs and impor-
tance of women who are demonstrating their intelligence
and capacity for the highest privileges of freedom.

The most important thing to be noted is the fact that the
colored people of America have reached a distinctly new
era in their career so quickly that the American mind has
scarcely had time to recognize the fact, and adjust itself
to the new requirements of the people in all things that
pertain to citizenship.

Thirty years ago public opinion recognized no differences
in the colored race. To our great misfortune public opinion
has changed but slightly. History is full of examples of

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 705

the great injustice resulting from the perversity of public
opinion, and its tardiness in recognizing new conditions.

It seems to daze the understanding of the ordinary citizen
that there are thousands of men and women everywhere
among us who in twenty-five years have progressed as far
away from the non-progressive peasants of the ** black belt "
of the South as the highest social life in New England is
above the lowest levels of American civilization.

This general failure of the American people to know the
new generation of colored people, and to recognize this
important change in them, is the cause of more injustice to
our women than can well be estimated. Further progress
is everywhere seriously hindered by this ignoring of their
improvement.

Our exclusion from the benefits of the fair play senti-
ment of the country is little less than a crime against the
ambitions and aspirations of a whole race of women. The
American people are but repeating the common folly of
history in thus attempting to repress the yearnings of pro-
gressive humanity.

In the item of employment colored women bear a dis-
tressing burden of mean and unreasonable discrimination.
A Southern teacher of thirty years' experience in the South
writes that " one million possibilities of good through black
womanhood all depend upon an opportunity to make a
living."

It is almost literally true that, except teaching in colored
schools and menial work, colored women can find no employ-
ment in this free America. They are the only women in
the country for whom real ability, virtue, and special talents
count for nothing when they become applicants for respect-
able employment. Taught everywhere in ethics and social
economy that merit always wins, colored women carefully
prepare themselves for all kinds of occupation only to meet
with stern refusal, rebuff, and disappointment. One of
countless instances will show how the best as well as the
meanest of American society are responsible for the special
injustice to our women.

706 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Not long ago I presented the case of a bright young
woman to a well-known bank president of Chicago, who was
in need of a thoroughly competent stenographer and type-
writer. The president was fully satisfied with the young
woman as exceptionally qualified for the position, and
manifested much pleasure in commending her to the direct-
ors for appointment, and at the same time disclaimed that
there could be any opposition on account of the slight
tinge of African blood that identified her as a colored
woman. Yet, when the matter was brought before the
directors for action, these mighty men of money and busi-
ness, these men whose prominence in all the great interests
of the city would seem to lift them above all narrowness
and foolishness, scented the African taint, and at once
bravely came to the rescue of the bank and of society by
dashing the hopes of this capable yet helpless young woman.
No other question but that of color determined the action
of these men, many of whom are probably foremost mem-
bers of the humane society and heavy contributors to
foreign missions and church extension work.

This question of employment for the trained talents of
our women is a most serious one. Refusal of such employ-
ment because of color belies every maxim of justice and
fair play. Such refusal takes the blessed meaning out of
all the teachings of our civilization, and sadly confuses our
conceptions of what is just, humane, and moral.

Can the people of this country aflford to single out the
women of a whole race of people as objects of their special
contempt ? Do these women not belong to a race that has
never faltered in its support of the country's flag in every
war since Attucks fell in Boston's streets ?

Are they not the daughters of men who have always
been true as steel against treason to everything funda-
mental and splendid in the republic? In short, are these
women not as thoroughly American in all the circumstances
of citizenship as the best citizens of our country ?

If it be so, are we not justified in a feeling of desperation

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 707

against that peculiar form of Americanism that shows re-
spect for our women as servants and contempt for them
when they become women of culture? We have never
been taught to understand why the unwritten law of chiv-
alry, protection, and fair play that are everywhere the con-
servators of women's welfare must exclude every woman
of a dark complexion.

We believe that the world always needs the influence of
every good and capable woman, and this rule recognizes no
exceptions based on complexion. In their complaint against
hindrances to their emplo3mient colored women ask for no
special favors.

They are even willing to bring to every position fifty per
cent more of ability than is required of any other class of
women. They plead for opportunities untrammeled by
prejudice. They plead for the right of the individual to be
judged, not by tradition and race estimate, but by the pres-
ent evidences of individual worth. We believe this country
is large enough and the opportunities for all kinds of success
are g^eat enough to afford our women a fair chance to earn
a respectable living, and to win every prize within the reach
of their capabilities.

Another, and perhaps more serious, hindrance to our
women is that nightmare known as "social equality." The
term equality is the most inspiring word in the vocabulary
of citizenship. It expresses the leveling quality in all the
splendid possibilities of American life. It is this idea of
equality that has made room in this country for all kinds
and conditions of men, and made personal merit the
supreme requisite for all kinds of achievement.

When the colored people became citizens, and found it
written deep in the organic law of the land that they too
had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
they were at once suspected of wishing to interpret this
maxim of equality as meaning social equality.

Everywhere the public mind has been filled with constant
alarm lest in some way our women shall approach the social

708 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

sphere of the dominant race in this countr)^ Men and
women, wise and perfectly sane in all things else, become
instantly unwise and foolish at the remotest suggestion of
social contact with colored men and women. At every turn
in our lives we meet this fear, and are humiliated by its
aggt'essiveness and meanness. If we seek the sanctities of
religion, the enlightenment of the university, the honors of
politics, and the natural recreations of our common country,
the social equality alarm is instantly given, and our aspira-
tions are insulted. " Beware of social equality with the col-
ored American " is thus written on all places, sacred or pro-
fane, in this blessed land of liberty. The most discouraging
and demoralizing effect of this false sentiment concerning
us is that it utterly ignores individual merit and discredits
the sensibilities of intelligent womanhood. The sorrows
and heartaches of a whole race of women seem to be
matters of no concern to the people who so dread the social
possibilities of these colored women.

On the other hand, our women have been wonderfully
indifferent and unconcerned about the matter. The dread
inspired by the growing intelligence of colored women has
interested us almost to the point of amusement. It has
given to colored women a new sense of importance to wit-
ness how easily their emancipation and steady advance-
ment is disturbing all classes of American people. It may
not be a discouraging circumstance that colored women can
command some sort of attention, even though they be mis-
understood. We believe in the law of reaction, and it is
reasonably certain that the forces of intelligence and char-
acter being developed in our women will yet change mis-
trustfulness into confidence and contempt into sympathy
and respect. It will soon appear to those who are not
hopelessly monomaniacs on the subject that the colored
people are in no way responsible for the social equality
nonsense. We shall yet be credited with knowing better
than our enemies that social equality can neither be
enforced by law nor prevented by oppression. Though

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 709

not philosophers, we long since learned that equality before
the law, equality in the best sense of that term under our
institutions, is totally different from social equality.

We know, without being exceptional students of history,
that the social relationship of the two races will be adjusted
equitably in spite of all fear and injustice, and that there
is a social gravitation in human affairs that eventually over-
whelms and crushes into nothingness all resistance based
on prejudice and selfishness.

Our chief concern in this false social sentiment is that
it attempts to hinder our further progress toward the higher
spheres of womanhood. On account of it, young colored
women of ambition and means are compelled in many in-
stances to leave the country for training and education in
the salons and studios of Europe. On many of the rail-
roads of this country women of refinement and culture are
driven like cattle into human cattle-cars lest the occupying
of an individual seat paid for in a first-class car may result
in social equality. This social quarantine on all means of
travel in certain parts of the country is guarded and
enfotced more rigidly against us than the quarantine regu-
lations against cholera.

Without further particularizing as to how this social
question opposes our advancement, it may be stated that
the contentions of colored women are in kind like those of
other American women for greater freedom of develop-
ment. Liberty to be all that we can be, without artificial
hindrances, is a thing no less precious to us than to women
generally.

We come before this assemblage of women feeling con-
fident that our progress has been along high levels and
rooted deeply in the essentials of intelligent humanity.
We are so essentially American in speech, in instincts, in
sentiments and destiny that the things that interest you
equally interest us.

We believe that social evils are dangerously contagious.
The fixed policy of persecution and injustice against a class

710 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

of women who are weak and defenseless will be necessarily
hurtful to the cause of all women. Colored women are
becoming more and more a part of the social forces that
must help to determine the questions that so concern
women generally. In this Congress we ask to be known
and recogfnized for what we are worth. If it be the high
purpose of these deliberations to lessen the resistance to
woman's progress, you can not fail to be interested in our
struggles against the many oppositions that harass us.

Women who are tender enough in heart to be active in
humane societies, to be foremost in all charitable activities,
who are loving enough to unite Christian womanhood
everywhere against the sin of intemperance, ought to be
instantly concerned in the plea of colored women for jus^
tice and humane treatment. Women of the dominant race
can not afford to be responsible for the wrongs we suffer,
since those who do injustice can not escape a certain
penalty.

But there is no wish to overstate the obstacles to colored
women or to picture their status as hopeless. There is na
disposition to take our place in this Congress as faultfinders
or suppliants for mercy. As women of a common country,
with common interests, and a destiny that will certainly
bring us closer to each other, we come to this altar with our
contribution of hopefulness as well as with our complaints.

When you learn that womanhood everywhere among
us is blossoming out into greater fullness of everything
that is sweet, beautiful, and good in woman ; when you
learn that the bitterness of our experience as citizen-women
has not hardened our finer feelings of love and pity for our
enemies; when you learn that fierce opposition to the
widening spheres of our employment has not abated the
aspirations of our women to enter successfully into all the
professions and arts open only to intelligence, and that
everywhere in the wake of enlightened womanhood our
women are seen and felt for the good they diffuse, this
Congress will at once see the fullness of our fellowship, and

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 711

help US to avert the arrows of prejudice that pierce the soul
because of the color of our bodies.

If the love of humanity more than the love of races and
sex shall pulsate throughout all the grand results that shall
issue to the world from this parliament of women, women
of African descent in the United States will for the first
time begin to feel the sweet release from the blighting
thrall of prejudice.

The colored women, as well as all women, will realize that
the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap-
piness is a maxim that will become more blessed in its
significance when the hand of woman shall take it from its
sepulture in books and make it the gospel of every-day life
and the unerring guide in the relations of all men, women,
and children.

DISCUSSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT BY MRS. A. J. COOPER
OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

The higher fruits of civilization can not be extemporized,
neither can they be developed normally, in the brief space
of thirty years. It requires the long and painful growth of
generations. Yet all through the darkest period of the
colored women's oppression in this country her yet unwrit-
ten history is full of heroic struggle, a struggle against
fearful and overwhelming odds, that often ended in a
horrible death, to maintain and protect that which woman
holds dearer than life. The painful, patient, and silent toil
of mothers to gain a fee simple title to the bodies of their
daughters, the despairing fight, as of an entrapped tigress,
to keep hallowed their own persons, would furnish material
for epics. That more went down under the flood than
stemmed the current is not extraordinary. The majority
of our women are not heroines — but I do not know that a
majority of any race of women are heroines. It is enough
for me to know that while in the eyes of the highest tribu-

712 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

nal in America she was deemed no more than a chattel, an
irresponsible thing, a dull block, to be drawn hither or
thither at the volition of an owner, the Afro-American
woman maintained ideals of womanhood unshamed by any
ever conceived. Resting or fermenting in untutored minds,
such ideals could not claim a hearing at the bar of the
nation. The white woman could at least plead for her own
emancipation ; the black woman, doubly enslaved, could but
suffer and struggle and be silent. I speak for the colored
women of the South, because it is there that the millions of
blacks in this country have watered the soil with blood and
tears, and it is there too that the colored woman of America
has made her characteristic history, and there her destiny is
evolving. Since emancipation the movement has been at
times confused and stormy, so that we could not always tell
whether we were going forward or groping in a circle.
We hardly knew what we ought to emphasize, whether
education or wealth, or civil freedom and recognition. We
were utterly destitute. Possessing no homes nor the
knowledge of how to make them, no money nor the habit
of acquiring it, no education, no political status, no influence,
what could we do ? But as Frederick Douglass had said in
darker days than those, " One with God is a majority," and
our ignorance had hedged us in from the fine-spun theories
of agnostics. We had remaining at least a simple faith that
a just God is on the throne of the universe, and that some-
how — we could not see, nor did we bother our heads to try
to tell how — he would in his own good time make all right
that seemed most wrong.

Schools were established, not merely public day-schools,
but home training and industrial schools, at Hampton, at
Fiske, Atlanta, Raleigh, and other central stations, and
later, through the energy of the colored people themselves,
such schools as the Wilberforce, the Livingstone, the Allen,
and the Paul Quinn were opened. These schools were
almost without exception co-educational. Funds were too
limited to be divided on sex lines, even had it been ideally

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 713

desirable ; but our girls as well as our boys flocked in and
battled for an education. Not even then was that patient,
untrumpeted heroine, the slave-mother, released from self-
sacrifice, and many an unbuttered crust was eaten in silent
content that she might eke out enough from her poverty
to send her young folks off to school. She "never had
the chance," she would tell you, with tears on her withered
cheek, so she wanted them to get all they could. The work
in these schools, and in such as these, has been like the lit-
tle leaven hid in the measure of meal, permeating life
throughout the length and breadth of the Southland, lift-
ing up ideals of home and of womanhood ; diffusing a
contagious longing for higher living and purer thinking,
inspiring woman herself with a new sense of her dignity in
the eternal purposes of nature. To-day there are twenty-
five thousand five hundred and thirty colored schools in the
United States with one million three hundred and fifty-
three thousand three hundred and fifty-two pupils of both
sexes. This is not quite the thirtieth year since their eman-
cipation, and the colored people hold in landed property
for churches and schools twenty-five million dollars. Two
and one-half million colored children have learned to read
and write, and twenty-two thousand nine hundred and
fifty-six colored men and women (mostly women) are teach-
ing in these schools. According to Doctor Rankin, Presi-
dent of Howard University, there are two hundred and
forty-seven colored students (a large percentage of whom
are women) now preparing themselves in the universities
of Europe. Of other colleges which give the B. A. course
to women, and are broad enough not to erect barriers
against colored applicants, Oberlin, the first to open its
doors to both woman and the negro, has given classical
degrees to six colored women, one of whom, the first and
most eminent, Fannie Jackson Coppin, we shall listen to
to-night. Ann Arbor and Wellesley have each graduated
three of our women ; Cornell University one, who is now
professor of sciences in a Washington high school. A

714 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

former pupil of my own from the Washington High School,
who was snubbed by Vassar, has since carried off honors
in a competitive examination in Chicago University. The
medical and law colleges of the countrj'- are likewise bom-
barded by colored women, and every year some sister of
the darker race claims their professional award of "well
done." Eminent in their profession are Doctor Dillon and
Doctor Jones, and there sailed to Africa last month a
demure little brown woman who had just outstripped a
whole class of men in a medical college in Tennessee.

In organized efforts for self-help and benevolence also
our women have been active. The Colored Women's
League, of which I am at present corresponding secretary,
has active, energetic branches in the South and West. The
branch in Kansas City, with a membership of upward of
one hundred and fifty, already has begun under their vigor-
ous president, Mrs. Yates, the erection of a building for
friendless girls. Mrs. Coppin will, I hope, herself tell you
something of her own magnificent creation of an industrial
society in Philadelphia. The women of the Washington
branch of the league have subscribed to a fund of about
five thousand dollars to erect a woman's building for
educational and industrial work, which is also to serve
as headquarters for gathering and disseminating general
information relating to the efforts of our women. This is
just a glimpse of what we are doing.

Now, I think if I could crystallize the sentiment of my
constituency, and deliver it as a message to this congress of
women, it would be something like this: Let woman's
claim be as broad in the concrete as in the abstract. We
take our stand on the solidarity of humanity, the oneness of
life, and the unnaturalness and injustice of all special favor-
itisms, whether of sex, race, country, or condition. If one
link of the chain be broken, the chain is broken. A
bridge is no stronger than its weakest part, and a cause is
not worthier than its weakest element. Least of all can
woman's cause afford to decry the weak. We want, then,

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 716

as toilers for the universal triumph of justice and human
rights, to go to our homes from this Congress, demanding
an entrance not through a gateway for ourselves, our race,
our sex, or our sect, but a grand highway for humanity.
The colored woman feels that woman's cause is one and uni-
versal ; and that not till the image of God, whether in parian
or ebony, is sacred and inviolable ; not till race, color, sex,
and condition are seen as the accidents, and not the sub-
stance of life ; not till the universal title of humanity to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is conceded to be
inalienable to all ; not till then is woman's lesson taught and
woman's cause won — not the white woman's, nor the black
woman's, nor the red woman's, but the cause of every
man and of every woman who has writhed silently under
a mighty wrong. Woman's wrongs are thus indissolubly
linked with all undefended woe, and the acquirement of her
^'rights" will mean the final triumph of all right over
might, the supremacy of the moral forces of reason, and
justice, and love in the government of the nations of earth.

DISCUSSION CONTINUED BY FANNIE JACKSON COPPIN OF

PENNSYLVANIA.

This conference can not be indifferent to the history of
the colored women of America, for if we have been able to
accomplish anything whatever in what are considered the
higher studies, or if we have been able to achieve anything
by heroic living and thinking, all the more can you achieve
it. It is an unanswerable argument for every woman's
claim. If we fight the battle, all the more can you win it.
Therefore you know this is not simply a side issue in which
you feel that out of consideration for a certain class of peo-
ple you ask them to give the history of their life. I have
often thought of you when the battle went hard with me,
and when it was impossible for me to gain the encourage-
ment I might have gained by looking upon the faces of

716 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the best people of America ; for whatever may be said of
what we have had to suffer in this country, we have never
had to suffer from the best people. The opposition, and the
trials, and the oppression and depression and suppression
have always come from the middle and lower classes, and
that has grown out of their very poor education. And now
what is the hope for the future ? Every hope.

I wish by no means to be among that class of people that
counsel words without knowledge. We, as a people, have
suffered greatly from what may be termed the "sizing up,"
and the regulation "putting down," and setting forth of
what it was possible for us to do.

Our idea of getting an education did not come out of
wanting to imitate any one whatever. It grew out of the
uneasiness and the restlessness of the desires we felt within
us ; the desire to know, not just a little, but a great deal.
We wanted to know how to calculate an eclipse, to know
what Hesiod and Livy thought ; we wished to know the
best thoughts of the best minds that lived with us; not
merely to gain an honest livelihood, but from a God-given
love of all that is beautiful and best, and because we thought
we could do it.

If black girls can calculate equations and logarithms as I
saw them doing yesterday, how much more could you with
your higher inheritance do ? Do you consider that you owe
us an obligation for that ?

There was a single word used in the address that I heard
this evening that I can not hear without having permission
to reply. What is that word ? We, as you know, are classed
among the working people, and so when the days of slavery
were over, and we wanted an education, peoole said, " What
are you going to do with an education ? " You know your-
selves you have been met with a great many arguments of
that kind. Why educate the woman — what will she do with
it ? An impertinent question, and an unwise one. Rather
ask, " What will she be with it ? " We are getting a better
education all through America. I can not think that the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 717

selfishness, the discourtesy that would push down a poor,
weak, innocent creature because it could not protect itself
will long remain in America. It is bound to succumb to the
better education that is everywhere being given, till people
will call it after awhile by its right name, viz.: very bad man-
ners. Nobody can be considered well-bred who would cause
an inoffensive traveler to leave the table to himself.

At the close of Mrs. Coppin's remarks the audience
insisted upon hearing from Hon. Frederick Douglass, who
was present upon the platform. Mr. Douglass spoke as
follows : *

I have heard to night what I hardly expected ever to live
to hear. I have heard refined, educated colored ladies
addressing — and addressing successfully — one of the most
intelligent white audiences that I ever looked upon. It
is the new thing under the sun, and my heart is too full to
speak; my mind is too much illuminated with hope and
with expectation for the race in seeing this sign.

Fifty years ago and more I was alone in the wilderness,
telling my story of the wrongs of slavery, and imploring
the justice, the humanity, the sympathy, the patriotism,
and every other good quality of the American heart
to do away with slavery; and you can easily see that
when I hear, such speeches as I have heard this
evening from our women — our women — I feel a sense
of gratitude to Almighty God that I have lived to
see what I now see. It seems to me that we are not liv-
ing in the old world I was bom into, but in the one seen by
John in the apocalyptic vision. A new heaven is dawning
upon us, and a new earth is ours, in which all discriminations
against men and women on account of color and sex is
passing away, and will pass away ; and as John said there '

* Mr. Douglass was the only man who, after the opening session, spoke
in the General Congress. The occasion was of such historical significance
that the editor feels justified in reproducing Mr. Douglass' address here,
notwithstanding the published declaration that no one would be permitted
to speak in the congress whose name did not appear on the programme.
47

718 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

would be no more sea after they had been surrounded on
that desolate island so long, so I say there is a time coming
when prejudices, discriminations, proscriptions, and perse-
cutions on account of what is accidental will all pass away, and
this great country of ours will be possessed by a composite
nation of the grandest possible character, made up of all
races, kindreds, tongues, and peoples.

Dear friends, I am full and you are full. You have heard
more to-night than you will remember, perhaps, but the
grand spirit which has proceeded from this platform will
live in your memory and work in your lives always.

The Organized Efforts of the Colored Women of
THE South to Improve Their Condition — An
Address by Sarah J. Early of Tennessee.

In this age of development and advancement all the
forces which have been accumulating for centuries past
seem to be concentrated in one grand effort to raise man-
kind to that degree of intellectual and moral excellence
which a wise and beneficent Creator designed that he
should enjoy. No class of persons is exempt from this
great impulse. The most unlettered, the most remote and
obscure, as well as the most refined and erudite seem to
have felt the touch of an unseen power, and to have heard
a mysterious voice calling them to ascend higher in the
scale of being. It is not a strange coincidence, then, that
in this period of restlessness and activity the women of all
lands should simultaneously see the necessity of taking a
more exalted position, and of seeking a more effective way
of ascending to the same plane, and assuming the more
responsible duties of life with her favored brother.

In organization is found all the elements of success in
any enterprise, and by this method alone are developed the
force and ability that have reared the grand structure of
human society. God intended that man should be a social

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 719

being, for he has given to no one individual the genius to
construct by his efforts alone the complex edifice.

Step by step, as the dark cloud of ignorance and supersti-
tion is dispelled by the penetrating rays of the light of eter-
nal truth, men begin to think, and thought brings revolu-
tion, and revolution changes the condition of men and leads
them into a happier and brighter existence. So have the
great revolutions of the age affected the condition of the
colored people of the Southern States, and brought them into
a more hopeful relation to the world. When they emerged
from the long night of oppression, which shrouded their
minds in darkness, crushed the energies of their soul, robbed
them of every inheritance save their trust in God, they
found themselves penniless, homeless, destitute, with thou-
sands of aged and infirm and helpless left on their hands to
support, and poverty and inexperience prevailing every-
where. To improve their social condition was the first
impulse of their nature. For this purpose they began imme-
diately to organize themselves into mutual aid societies, the
object of which was to assist the more destitute, to provide
for the sick, to bury the dead, to provide a fund for orphans
and widows. These societies were the beginning of their
strength, the groundwork of their future advancement and
permanent elevation. They were constructed with admira-
ble skill and harmony. Excellent charters were secured, and
the constitution and by-laws were adhered to with remark-
able fidelity. The membership increased rapidly, and the
funds in the treasuries grew daily. The women, being
organized separately, conducted their societies with wonder-
ful wisdom and forethought. Their influence for good
was felt in every community, and they found themselves
drawn together by a friendly interest which greatly
enhanced the blessings of life. Their sick and dead and
orphans have been properly cared for. Thus our people
have shown a self-dependence scarcely equaled by any other
people, a refined sensibility in denying themselves the
necessities of life to save thousands of children from want

720 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and adults from public charity ; in screening them from the
stinging arrows of the tongue of slander and the carping
criticisms of a relentless foe.

These organizations number at least five thousand and
carry a membership of at least a half-million women. They
have widened into State societies, and some of the stronger
bodies into national organizations, meeting in annual assem-
blies to transact business and to discuss their future well-
being. They have in some States built and sustained
orphans' homes, and in others purchased their own ceme-
teries. They have built commodious halls for renting pur-
poses ; they have assisted in building churches and other
benevolent institutions. They have granted large death
benefits, and thus provided homes for many orphan children,
and have deposited large sums in savings banks for future
use. Should the question be asked what benefit has accrued
from these organized efforts, we answer, much in every way.
Their organizations have bound the women together in a
common interest so strong that no earthly force can sever it.
Organization has taught them the art of self-government^
and has prepared the way for future and grander organiza-
tions. By their frequent convocations and discussions their
intellectual powers have been expanded and their judgment
has been enlightened. Organization has given hope for a
better future by revealing to colored women their own exec-
utive ability. It has stimulated them to acquire wealth by
teaching them to husband their means properly. It has
intensified their religion by giving them a more exalted
idea of God through a constant survey of his goodness and
mercies toward them. It has refined their morality through
adherence to their most excellent constitutions and by-
laws. It has assisted in raising them from a condition of
helplessness and destitution to a state of self-dependence
and prosperity ; and now they stand a g^and sisterhood,
nearly one million strong, bound together by the strongest
ties of which the human mind can conceive, being loyal to
their race, loyal to the government, and loyal to their God.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 721

Having thus provided for their future well-being, their
attention was turned to the spread of the gospel. With
hearts glowing with the love of God, they longed to assist
in building up his kingdom on earth. Many devout women
joined themselves into missionary societies to obtain means
with which to send the gospel to other parts of the world
more destitute than their own. They were auxiliary to
the churches of various denominations, and multiplied until
their scanty donations amounted to sums sufficient to accom-
plish much good in the Master's cause. On the women's
part in the African Methodist Episcopal church they have
donated the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and a like
amount in each of the five other leading denominations.
The Presbyterian Home and Foreign Missionary Society sus-
tains missions in West Africa, the West Indies, the Bermuda
Islands, South America, and the islands of Hayti and St.
Thomas. The home missions of the various denomina-
tions occupy the time of more than one thousand ministers.
About the year 1890 the women of the African Methodist
Episcopal church formed a mite missionary society, which
has its auxiliary branches all over the Union. They now
labor assiduously for the advancement of the foreign mis-
sions they had prayed for. They believe in him who
blessed the widow's mite, and who pronounced a divine
benediction on the modest disciple who had done what she
could.

This organization raises two thousand dollars annually,
sustaining two or three missionaries in Hayti, and assists in
the Bermuda and West African missions. The aggregate
of all the money raised annually by the colored churches
amounts to over half a million of dollars, and by far the
greater share is raised by the women.

Many a benighted heathen has heard the gospel through
their instrumentalities. By their efforts they themselves
have become better informed concerning the gospel, and
better acquainted with the world and its inhabitants. In
trying to raise others they have learned to look up from

722 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

their toilsome and abject present to a brighter and more
glorious future. They have learned to exalt the goodness
of God as manifest in the sanctification of their work to
his honor and glory. This has raised in them a holy ambi-
tion to accomplish greater good for their fellow-men.

The colored women of the Southern States have not
been indifferent to the necessity of guarding their homes
against the pernicious influences of the drinking system.
They have begun to fortify themselves against the most
powerful of all enemies — strong drink. Woman's Chris-
tian temperance unions have been formed in all Southern
States, into which many hundreds have gathered, who work
with much patience and diligence. Hospital work, prison
work, social purity, and flower mission work, and the dis-
tribution of literature among all classes of persons have
been performed faithfully, and many erring and destitute
souls have felt the tenderness and shared the bounty of the
benevolent hearts and ready hands of the colored women
of the Woman's Christian Temperance Unions.

These organizations have accomplished much in forming
temperance sentiment among the people and in the
churches, and have helped materially in changing votes at
the polls for prohibition.

Again, when this fair land was distracted by contending
factions, and military forces left desolation and ruin in their
pathway, while enemies met in deadly conflict on the fields
of battle, the expiring soldier longed for the soothing touch
of woman's hand, and his heart yearned for the consoling
words of woman's prayer. It was then on the blood-
drenched field that the colored women showed the deepest
sympathy for suffering humanity and the highest valor
and loyalty by stanching the bleeding wounds, and cooling
the parched lips with water, and raising the fainting head,
and fanning the fevered brow, and with tender solicitude
watching by the dying couch, and breathing the last prayer
with him who had laid down his life for his country. The col-
ored men often endangered their lives by passing the line

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 723

of the enemy to carry messages to the officers of the Union
army, so that a part of the army was saved not once nor
twice but often by their daring valor. And when her loyal
and chivalric brothers, of whose loyalty and valor she was
justly proud, returned from the conflict with halting limbs
and shattered frames, and victory perched on their banners,
they were content to lie down and die, and leave their wid-
ows and orphans to the care of a merciful God and their
brave comrades. When the women of the nation proposed
to form relief corps to assist the needy comrades of the
Grand Army of the Republic and care for their orphans
and widows, the colored women did not hesitate, but when
opportunity offered they organized, and they have many
active and industrious corps accomplishing much noble
work, in assisting the needy, decorating graves, presenting
flags to schools, and in many ways instilling patriotism.

If we compare the present condition of the colored people
of the South with their condition twenty-eight years ago,
we shall see how the organized efforts of their women have
contributed to the elevation of the race and their marvelous
advancement in so short a time. When they emerged from
oppression they were homeless and destitute ; now they are
legal owners of real estate to the value of two hundred and
sixty-three millions of dollars. Then they were penniless,
but now they have more, than two millions in bank. In
several States they have banks of their own in successful
operation, in which the women furnish the greater number
of deposits. Then they had no schools, and but few of
the people were able to read ; now inore than four millions
of their women can read. Then they had no high schools,
but now they have two hundred colleges, twenty-seven of
which are owned and conducted by their own race.

These feeble efforts at organization to improve our con-
dition seem insignificant to the world, but this beginning,
insignificant as it may seem, portends a brighter and nobler
future. If we in the midst of poverty and proscription
can aspire to a noble destiny to which God is leading all his

724 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

rational creatures, what may we not accomplish in the day
of prosperity ?

Hark ! I hear the tramp of a million feet, and the sound
of a million voices answer, we are coming to the front ranks
of civilization and refinement.

Five hundred thousand girls and young women are now
crowding our schools and colleges; they are forming
literary societies. Young Women's Christian Associations,
Christian Endeavor Societies, bands of King's Daughters,
and with all the appliances of modem civilization which
have a tendency to enlighten the mind and cultivate the
heart, they will emerge into society, with all their acquired
ability, to perfect that system of organization among their
race of which they themselves are the first fruits.

DISCUSSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT BY HALLIE Q. BROWN

OF ALABAMA.

For two hundred and fifty years the negro woman of
America was boujg^ht and sold as a chattel. The sacred ties
of wife and mother were broken and disdained. Side by
side with the men of her race she toiled in the dank rice-
swamps, in the cotton-fields, and the lone cane-brakes. She
tilled the soil of her so-called master, enlarged his estates,
heaped his coffers with shining gold, and filled his home
with the splendors of the world.

In character she was patient, sympathetic, and forgiving.
She was counted but little higher than the brute creation
that surrounded her, and was said to possess neither a brain
nor a soul. Scourged by the hard hand of the slave-driver,
and suffering every privation, there fell upon her a help-
lessness born of despair ; but with an implicit trust and an
unswerving faith in God, she caught the glinting light from
the peak of freedom's day.

The thoughts of a slave insurrection and the horrors of

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 725

St. Domingo were in the mind of Longfellow when he
penned these lines :

There is a poor blind Samson in the land«
Shorn of his strength and bound in bars of steel,

Who may, in some grim revel, raise his hand
And shake the pillars of the commonweal

Till the great temple of our liberties

A shapeless mass of wreck and ruin lies.

But our own Frances Harper, who championed the cause
of the oppressed in the early anti-slavery days, sang with
lips and tongue touched by a live coal :

Yes, Ethiopia shall stretch

Her bleeding hands abroad;
Her cry of agony shall reach

The burning throne of God.
Redeemed from dust and free from chains

Her sons shall lift their eyes.
From cloud-capped hills and verdant plains

Shall shouts of triumph rise.

When the first low mutterings from Fort Sumter were
heard, hope sprang up within the negro woman's breast, and
when by an eternal fiat the gyves and chains on wrists and
ankles were broken she stepped forth, her body scarred and
striped by the lash, her intellect dwarfed and sunken into
piteous ignorance, without money, clothes, or home — but
a free woman.

With freedom's first sweet draught came the thirst for
knowledge. The drowsy intellect awoke under gracious
influences to find itself possessed of powers hitherto
unknown.

In 1865 Major-General O. O. Howard was appointed com-
missioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, and the bread of life
was given to these hungry, starving souls. Never in the
history of the world was there manifested on the part of
any people such an earnest desire to obtain an education.
Five years later the general made his report. It was full of
interest. There were enrolled ninety-one thousand five

726 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

hundred pupils, more than half of whom were women and
girls. Mothers, gray-haired and bent with age, sat with the
children poring over the spelling-book and reader.

Twenty-five years of progpress find the Afro-American
woman advanced beyond the most sanguine expectations.
Her development from darkest slavery and grossest igno-
rance into light and liberty is one of the marvels of the age.
Her friends and enemies united in declaring that she would
die out under the higher refining influences of Christian
civilization ; but through unremitting exertions she has
climbed to elevated planes, accepting all which dignifies
and refines, and flourishing under it.

The negro woman has made greater progress education-
ally than in any other direction. We favor this as an intel-
ligent choice, a wise decision, for what trade, profession
or vocation in life may be entered upon without the basis of
scholastic education? Moreover, it prepares her for her
important duty in home economy, since she must mold the
men of the future.

A score or more of our women have entered upon jour-
nalism. Some have reached greater heights, and rank as
authors of distinction ; and we point with pride to Frances
Harper's " lola Leroy," while Anna Cooper gives *' no un-
certain sound " in ** A Voice from the South."

A poor orphan girl, left alone at an early age and forced
to battle with the world, visited the city of Boston. As she
gazed upon the statue of Franklin she became conscious of
a latent power, and the genius within her cried out when
she exclaimed, " I can make a stone man ! " William Lloyd
Garrison, the champion of human rights, came to her assist-
ance, and in her studio at Rome Edmonia Lewis has con-
verted the unpolished stone into fine statues. " Madonna
with the Infant Christ, " " Hagar in the Wilderness, " and a
life-size statue of Phillis Wheatley, the African poetess,
attest her powers.

Europe, Asia, and Africa have heard the story of the
cross sung and told by the sweet voice of Amanda Smith,

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 727

the ** singing pilgrim " of the race. In the darkness of the
night-hour her lonely hut was made resplendent with the
glory of another world, and the pent-up sorrow of a race
was breathed out in songs that are immortal.

We may go to Austria for the music of a Mozart, to Bel-
gium for that of a Beethoven, to Germany for that of a Han-
del and a Wagner, but when these countries call back to
this land to produce her national music she must turn to
the lowly slave, with the grand note of sadness resounding
in her melodies, the reverberations of personal sufferings,
as the only music truly and purely native American.

It was asserted that the negro was brutal, revengeful,
murderous ; and " the constant fear of an uprising " kept
alert the vigilant patrol. In a distant city the Abolitionists
were holding a meeting. Mr. Douglass, in his unrivaled
eloquence, had graphically depicted the condition of the
country and the gloomy outlook for the slave. In the lull
that followed his earnest, burning words, Sojourner Truth
calmly asked, ** Frederick, is God dead ? '* These words of
that black woman changed the whole tenor of that meeting,
and they realized that God was not dead, but marching on,
conquering and to conquer.

We hear Sojourner Truth, the black sibyl, prophesying
the downfall of slavery when not a ray of light penetrated
the gloom, when all hope seemed gone. In her own
native ruggedness and homely but powerful eloquence she
met in debate and defeated the solons of the Michigan
Legislature. Her faith was sublime.

But let us make a tour of the Southland where the teem-
ing millions are ; pause and inspect the schools of learning
and the industrial schools, where thousands of young
women are receiving an education in art, science, litera-
ture, and handicraft. The mill and the factory are verit-
able hives of industry. The age and the race demand
skilled labor, educated labor. The girls of the South are
realizing that with a common education and a trade they are
superior to the girl who completes the academic course and

728 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

neglects the training of her hand. The girls of the South
are realizing that they must refute the dark prophecies
concerning the race by lives of integrity and chastity.
To this end they have organized among themselves various
societies, such as Young Woman's Christian Associations,
Woman s Christian Temperance Unions, the King's Daugh-
ters, the Christian Endeavor, homes for orphans, for the
aged and infirm, and many benevolent societies for the
amelioration of the condition of the poor and helpless about
them. I have come to this Congress to represent the
women of the black belt of Alabama, black not on account
of its numerous dark-skinned inhabitants, but black because
of its ignorance, superstition, and degradation. Ten years
ago B. T. Washington founded a school at Tuskegee which
has served as the one beacon-light in all that land of dark-
ness. More than six hundred pupils have studied there.

Three hundred earnest girls bade me God-speed as I left
them to come to this Congress. And if you would have a
slight idea of the work they can do, they instructed me to
say that you should look at the gown their representative
wears, made by girls who six months ago could handle only
the hoe and the plow. The whistle of the engine, the ring
of the hammer, the buzz of the saw, the spinning of the
wheel serve as music and inspiration to this school.

The gospel of honorable manual labor sinks into the
mind with every stitch that is taken, with every nail that is
driven. The dignity of labor is taught with every lesson
in domestic econofny, cooking, dressmaking, tailoring, nurse-
training, and carpentry.

What more is needed ?

Time and an equal chance in the race of life.

Ages of savagery and centuries of bondage weakened the
intellect and dwarfed the faculties. The proper develop-
ment of the mind, like the formation of character, must
come by a slow and steady growth. What are thirty years
in the history of a nation ? It is but a day since Freedom
blew her blast proclaiming liberty to the slave. The sound

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 729

of the cannon's breath has scarcely died upon the passing
breeze; the smoke of the battle-field has hardly cleared
away ; the earth seems yet to tremble *' neath the mighty
tread of Sherman's march to the sea."

Talk not of the negro woman's incapacity, of her inferi-
ority, until the centuries of her hideous servitude have been
succeeded by centauries of education, culture, and refine-
ment, by which she may rise to the fullness of the stature
of her highest ideal.

God speed the day when the white American woman,
strengthened by her wealth, her social position, and her
years of superior training, may clasp hands with the less
fortunate black woman of America, and both unite in
declaring that " God hath made of one blood all nations of
men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

Woman's War for Peace — An Address by Nico Beck-
Meyer of Denmark.

Peace ! What is peace ? It is not rest, but growth. Peace
is the condition which will be brought on when love is
reigning and justice is fulfilled. The best of all ages have
been dreaming about this perfect time to come. That is
what is meant by the prophecy that people of every race
and denomination shall gather together under the shadow
of the tree of life, that the lion and the lamb shall lie down
together, and the sword shall be put away forever. The
most solemnly beautiful peace-hymn ever written was born
, of the Gothic nation, and written in the old northern lan-
guage. Those warriors before whose weapons Rome and
Paris were trembling had still, deep in the consciousness of
the nation, preserved the inheritance from the childhood of
the race.

When the Gothic tribes left Asia they brought with them
as the common inheritance of humankind the beautiful
philosophy of truth and justice as reigning powers, of peace

730 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

as the end of all. It was laid down in their mythology and
their folk-lore; that they never lost their inheritance in
their cold northern home this peace-hymn will show. The
hymn is part of the great poem, " The Old Edda/' and the
last part of it tells how the world will look when human-
kind has reached its destination.

This poem was born centuries back in the early time of
the Gothic nations ; it was written down in the language
then common to Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, and was
found in the thirteenth century in an old convent in Ice-
land. Who the author was nobody knows certainly — prob-
ably a man ; but if it was a man it was one who had loved
a woman whose soul-life was peace.

Such were the dreams and vaguely felt ideas of the
human race, but it was ^iiffiing--«lojvly, as a child grows
from childhood to manhood ; and the age of peace will be
the last to be reached, as the ages of love and justice must be
passed through first. The countries of the Old World were
drenched in blood ; it was admitted to be a great calamity,
still it was even by the best thought a necessary evil. The
first time when history tells us how a woman lifted her
voice against war was at the seven years' war in Europe,
when the army of Frederick the Great had made the state
of Mecklenburg almost a desert. The Princess Anna Char-
lotte of Mecklenburg wrote an earnest letter to King Fred-
erick, showing him the inhumanity in war, and imploring
him to spare her country. The letter moved the old war-
rior so that he withdrew his army from her country and
sent her letter to his ally. King George the Third of Eng-
land, at that time crown prince. The prince made up his
mind that he wanted the woman who wrote the letter for
his wife. Anna Charlotte became the Queen of England,
and made the nation forget for awhile that the Hanoverian
kings were not always a blessing to the country.

The nineteenth century came, with its fuller understand-
ing of love and justice, and the nations were at last awak-
l ened to understand what it meant that peace should reign.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 731

Now what position did the Danish nation, which gave to
the world this classic peace-hymn, take in the war for peace
when the other nations woke up ?

About eight years ago ten persons were sitting around
the table in the parlor of Mrs. Olesen, one of the Danish
delegates to the congress. They called themselves mem-
bers of the Danish Peace Union. The founder of the
union was a member of the Danish Parliament, Frederick
Bajer, afterward vice-president of the Universal Peace
Union. But many a time has he been heard to say that if
his wife had not stood unflinchingly by his side he did not
know how he ever should have kept up the work, laughed at
and derided as the peace cause was at that time in Denmark.
There those ten members met week after week, through
months and years, around the table, half-ashamed, some-
times hardly daring to look at each other ; still they could
not and would not give up.

Those ten members kept on meeting until they became
twenty, until they became one hundred. When they were
strong enough they called from Norway the great author,
BjSrnstjeme Bj5mson, an earnest peace friend. He spoke
so loud that the Danish women were aroused, and from
that moment the peace cause has gone from victory to
victory.

From the room with the ten half-ashamed members, we
turned our eyes this last April to the king's palace, where a
deputation walked in carrying an address asking the king
to give the peace cause his consideration. The address
was signed with but three thousand names, but we are a
nation of only two millions.

Between the modest room and the king's palace lay the
work of the Danish women. Addresses were sent to mothers
to work in home and school for the cause ; lectures were
given all over the country. Mrs. Johanna Meyer, president
of the Danish Women's Progressive Association, did espe-
cially good work.

Once more Bj5mstjeme Bj5mson had been called to

732 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Denmark. The meeting was arranged to be in one of
the great forests belonging to the government, a forest
which always was used for public meetings. People came
from every part of the country, but at the last moment
officials of the government refused to lend the forest for
this purpose. The immense assemblage turned away^
promising themselves that the joy of the day should not be
taken away from them on that account. Wading along the
dusty roads, they gathered on a plowed field, with their feet
deep in the soil, the rays of the sun over their heads ; and
they forgot time and place listening to the words of the
mighty orator. After that it was that a movement for an
address to the king was started. It was not really expected
that the king would sign himself as a member of the Peace
Union ; the nation wanted only to show how its heart was
with the peace cause.

Now it must be remembered that American women have
your glorious constitution, your free institutions to work
under. If we compare the work of Danish and of American
women, we must consider that everjrthing must be looked
at amidst its surroundings. We can not tear a thing away
from its place and arrive at a true view of its qualities, its
power of life. We must look at things in the soil where
they are bom, with the light and shadow over them under
which they have existed. If we do thus, we shall see that
the Danish woman has done noble work for the peace cause,
as for all other causes of progress. We all know that the
women of England and France have worked for the peace
cause.

Thoughts are flying invisibly in the air around us, unit-
ing to do their silent work, a creating power which can not
be resisted. They come from the Pacific coast and reach
the soul of some one in New England, calling forth half-
bom thoughts, turning them into words and deeds.

What an intellectual age with its great inventions, its
tools and machinery, never could do, a spiritual age, created
through woman's unity with man, will carry out. We might

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 733

then ask, ** What country will be the first to carry the peace
cause to victory?" Some may guess England or France ; I
say the United States ought to be the country to do it.

You, with the liberty for which centuries have cried, with
a language which is that of the world, with the strength
and intellect of the oldest nations transplanted into your
young veins, with the soil of an Eden, with tools and outward
forces to make you the lords of the earth — what is it really
you intend to do with it all? To whom a great deal is
given, of him a great deal shall be asked. You owe more
to the nations of the world than the display of your
machinery and tools, your railroads and bridges, and all
the wonders of your Fair. You owe them even more than
to show them a Fair where woman's work stands side by
side with man's. You owe to the whole human race that
liberty for all, that peace among men, that human life in the
fullest sense to every human being who shall be bom inside
your borders.

If this spirit should be shown throughout the immense
vastness of this country, corrupt political struggle would
cease, capital's poisoning breath would be swept away, a
new era would be born to mankind. The only cosmopoli-
tan nation is the nation that can do it ; the only cosmo-
politan nation, and yet a nation with so strong an individu-
ality that it has power to assimilate all other nationalities.
When, then, are all those things going to be fulfilled?
When the American woman — she who shall bring to us the
spiritual age, she who edits a paper like T/ie Parthenon —
when she gets her vote. May the hours before morning be
short !

Woman's War for Peace — Address by Rev. Amanda
Devo of Pennsylvania, Representative of the
Universal Peace Union.

I stand before you as the representative of the Universal
Peace Union. This association has thirty branch societies

48

(

734 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

in America and six branch societies in Europe. Frederika
Meyer, of whom my sister from Denmark spoke, I had the

^^leasure of meeting at our World's Peace Congress in 1889,
at which there were one hundred representatives from the
various peace societies of the world. Now peace is so good
a thing that we do not expect it is going to come of itself,
without any effort on our part. I am glad ^r heavenly
Father has held us, as women, back from participation in
government until we can come with our souls drinking in
the mighty power of the gospel, of the living truths of

vf^hteousness. The word of God shall go forth, and it
shall not return void— that is^the^reat truth given us by
the prophets of old. It is seconded by the great truth of
Christ, " If ye love me keep my commandments ; and these
commandments give I unto you, that ye love one another."
Why should we not as women, from Denmark, from all
the nations of the world, raise our voices and in one mighty
chorus say : " God has given to man the power of reason,
and judgment, and understanding, and we demand the set-
tlement of the disputes of the world by arbitration; the
settlement of all national and international differences shall
be had through these mighty powers of the human soul."

Now let me tell you how this society of the Universal
Peace Union sprang into existence. When the War of the
Rebellion was going on, the great American Peace Society
of Boston said, " It is a mob ; we must take right hold and
-help put it down." Lucretia Mott, the grand old Quaker,
said : *' No ; war is never right ; war I can not take part in."
William Lloyd Garrison said the same ; and right in the
height of the rebellion was bom the Universal Peace Union.
. Our president, who has occupied the chair for twenty-five
j^ars, Alfred H. Love, was seated in the chair as presi-
dent, with the benedictions of William Lloyd Garrison ; and
his hand was clasped by Lucretia Mott. And so, friends, our
^rork has gone on, reaching out into every State.

r I beg of you that you place your names upon this petition

\ asking the nations of the world for the establishment of a

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 735

court of arbitration, which the Government of the United
States has the privilege of calling together through Presi-
dent Cleveland. How did this privilege come to him ? for
it has been only of recent date that he has had such power
put into his hands. The power to call together the war forced
must come from a vote of Congress. It is now possible td
call together the peace forces of the world for the establish-1
ment of a permanent court of arbitration in which shall he\
settled all the differences of the various nations. This is
one of the greatest privileges of the President of the United
States of America to-day. It has come about in this way :

In the English Parliament there arose a resolution of this
sort, praying the United States Government to speedily
organize a court of arbitration, with representatives from
Great Britain, France, and the nations of Europe, who with
the United States would enter into a league of peace,
promising solemnly never to settle their differences in any
other way than by arbitration. But you know how the great
armies of Europe stood there like horrid nightmares in the
way of this great advancement in human progress. , They
said, " We can not start this, but you, the great republic of
free America, you have the privilege."

Peace is the strongest known protest against every known
wrong in the world, and when you men and women fold
your arms and say firmly, " We will have nothing to do with
war," then peace will come. I tell you the Quakers have^
given us an example in their religion. They organized /
themselves without killing anybody ; they maintained the
government of the State of Pennsylvania for a period of/
seventy years without any one being killed. Now that is[
a precedent for all times. If you have any doubt that peace'
is a greater power for good than war, look to William Penn,
with his idea of justice and righteousness by which he
maintained peace through those seventy years.

When there comes a time for men to go to war they do
not call for men with crooked backs, or with teeth out, or
eyesight impaired, or any sort of blemish, but they take

736 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the men of brawn and muscle, strong and perfect, and place
them to be shot down by their fellow-men. It is not to-day
the survival of the fittest, it is not the strong man pitted
against another strong man, but it is the strong man, the
flower of the land, pitted against the horrible enginery of
war. It is men against instruments; men against the
dynamite bomb ; men against electricity. The very horrid
enginery of war to-day makes men reflect and not go into
war readily.

DISCUSSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT BY LIZZIE KIRKPATRICK

OF CANADA.

Is not this world's congress an earnest of the bond of
sympathy and fellowship which shall be established among
all nations and among all men ? I would like only to say
that as woman is a sufferer through the ravages of war,
it is but meet that woman should unite her best efforts in
the bringing in of 'that glorious time when even nature
shall feel the influence of peace ; when " the lion and the
lamb shall lie down together," and the liberty that comes
from goodness and kindness shall confirm the prophecy.
This seems to me the outline of a Utopian dream, the
vision of an idealist, but yet " the mouth of the Lord of
Hosts hath spoken it."

Woman as an Explorer — Address by May French-
Sheldon OF Pennsylvania.

An apostle has certain tenets of faith to expound or to per-
petuate, and may advance a cause and belief with zealous
fervor, having fixed upon the basis of his arguments.

Every time a woman takes the initiative and ventures to
step out from the circumscribed ranks of her conventional
sphere ; every time she defies tradition and prejudice, achiev-
ing by earnest effort, ability, and self-dedication a new sue-

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 737

cess, she thereby sets aside some of the many limitations that
possibly were appropriate to the women of the Middle Ages,
but certainly can not apply to the educated, progressive, able
women of the present day.

Woman needs must make great personal sacrifices, sub-
due her inherent sensitiveness, and meet the adverse criti-
cisms of not only the opposite sex, but likewise the narrow-
minded of her own sex. Too frequently she is denounced
as unwomanly or fond of notoriety ; her real motives are
questioned. When she first seeks to solve some of the
vital problems of life apart from the leadership of men,
when she makes a new departure, she is confronted on all
sides by the query, " To what purpose ? " albeit she has done
a work the benefit of which will be shared measurably by
all other women, if indeed not by all mankind.

History grudgingly relates the lives of noble women who
at some most critical period rendered a service securing
everlasting fame to the world's most renowned heroes.
However, if other proof were wanting, the present Woman's
Congress is pregnant with the assurance that ability is sex-
less. Under the same conditions, with the same physical
training, similar education, same environment, animated by
the same impulse, given the same opportunity, the sex is a
matter of indifference.

No one doubts woman's moral courage or powers of
endurance and marvelous adaptability to circumstances;
and while she may have no ambition to be a competitor
with man, she now desires to have her work placed in jux-
taposition with his, to work shoulder, to shoulder beside
man, and with him, or even alone, and to wear well-merited
laurels without feeling that she is insulted by having honors
bestowed upon her simply because she is a woman, or on
the contrary by having them withheld because she is a
woman.

Until exploration can be entirely peaceful, I think I may
say with assurance that exploration by women, although
possible, will be rare.

738 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

I would rather that women be regarded as pioneers than
as explorers, and wish, if a woman accompanies her hus-
band, as many brave women have done, and by her devo-
tion helps him to win laurels, that she at least may share the
honor.

A difficulty in a woman's taking the leadership in an
exploring party is found in the fact that she would have
none of her own sex to cooperate with her. At first sight
there seems a contradiction between the natural delicacy of
a woman and the work of an explorer. My own experience^
however, as an explorer is a proof that a woman may be a
leader in an exploring expedition. But I can not discuss
the subject without entering into personalities that have no
place in this congress. I, however, believe that woman is
peculiarly adapted to the study of ethnology, because a
woman recognizes that all peoples, whether black or white,
civilized or uncivilized, are God's creatures, and no woman
would think them proper targets for the explorer's guns or
the colonizer's severity. I believe that women would intro-
duce into exploration, as they have into other departments
of labor, that sympathy which is essential to the best sue-
cess. I believe it to be woman's business as an explorer to
introduce the industrial arts among savage peoples.

The Organized Development of Polish Women —
Address by Helena Modjeska of Poland.

First, I must ask your permission for a personal remark.
When I was invited to appear in the congress as one of the
representatives of women on the stage, I was not aware that
two days later I should again step on the platform as a
representative of Polish women.

This task fell to my share very unexpectedly, and found
me unprepared. The regular delegate was prevented at
the last moment from arriving here, and as I am one of the
members of the advisory Polish committee, I agreed to

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 739

appear before you in her place, taking upon me the risk of
coming before you unprepared, rather than suffering our
Polish womanhood to remain unrepresented at this great
gathering.

Being deprived of its political independence, Poland is
hampered in every manifestation of its vitality. Those who
have taken away from us our national existence try to make
the whole world believe that there is not, that there never
was, such a thing as a Polish nation. They endeavor to
obliterate from the annals of humanity the history of
Poland ; to restrict, if not entirely prohibit, the use of our
language ; to hinder the development of every progress,
be it economic, intellectual, or social.

In such conditions it is only natural that any organized
movement of women toward improving their situation
should be considered as a political crime, and punished
accordingly. Whatever is done must be done in secret, and
therefore I am prevented from giving you evidences of the
work done by my countrywomen, and must confine myself
to generalities, for fear that any personal allusion may bring
on very serious consequences.

And yet we have in our country a splendid array of
women, distinguished in every branch of human activity,
with great minds and greater hearts, who work both indi-
vidually and by combined efforts with the view of raising
the level of Polish womanhood. Some of them would cer-
tainly be invited to figure on the Advisory Council lists
of the divers empires to whose governments they are sub-
jected, but they scorn to be enlisted otherwise than as
Polish women. They would a hundred times prefer to
have their names remain in oblivion, and left out of the
golden book of deserving women, than to appear there as
representatives of the nationality of their oppressors. The
greater number of the Polish women who would be entitled
to appear here are subjects of the Russian government. It
is well known that even postal communication is far from
being safe there, which may explain the scarcity of the

740 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

documents sent for the occasion. I have, however, with me
some papers from which I will take the liberty of reading
you a few translated extracts.

Woman's situation depends upon the general level of her
country and epoch — the higher the intellectual develop-
ment of the community, the higher the rank occupied by
woman. The economic conditions exercise a similar in-
fluence, because the widening of commerce and industry
o|Jens new fields of activity, and therefore new material
advantages to our sex. Race, customs, and traditions are
of paramount importance in this regard. They define the
character of woman's influence. In some countries it
asserted itself mostly in the direction of worldliness or
sentimentality, and it was exerted by cunning or by per-
sonal charms, a state of things not very favorable to mor-
als; in others it was based on the universal respect for
women, the award of her higher qualities, the earnestness
of her mind, the strength of her will.

This was the case in Poland. In old times the intellect-
ual vitality of the nation was concentrated in one class —
the Polish gentry. They resided in the country, and were
given up to agricultural pursuits. There woman occu-
pied a prominent rank. Each noble's mansion was eco-
nomically a little world of its own. Its inhabitants were
living entirely on home products — those of the field, the
stable, the poultry, dairy, and garden. They drank home-
brewed beer and mead. They were clothed in home-
spun and home-woven cloth and linen. Even the costly
garments, the pride of the family, were manufactured
at home. The management of all these home indus-
tries was entirely in the hands of the lady of the house.
Like the strong woman of the Scriptures, she fed and
dressed everybody in the house and village — she had the
care of their food, their comfort, and their health. Physi-
cians were almost unknown ; she had to take their place ;
she knew qualities of plants, and she composed the healing
salves and drugs which up to to-day form the basis of our

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 741

so-called home medicine. There remains yet an unmis-
takable trace of her medical pursuits ; the house pantry, des-
tined for the safe-keeping of the groceries, is called still
to-day in Polish houses the little pharmacy, " Apteczka."

The usefulness of the Polish woman increased her impor-
tance, and endowed her with rights which were refused to
women in other countries. By a natural process she came
to take a predominant part in the business affairs of the
family. This participation tended to educate her mind, the
habit of commanding a numerous retinue of servants gave
strength to her character, and the variety of her occupations
widened her practical knowledge.

The latter, the practical knowledge, passed from mothers
to daughters, and for a long time there was no other educa-
tion. The convents, which abroad furnished the schools for
the young girls, had a very small pedagogic influence in
Poland. The little they possess at present they acquired
only in the present century. There was a universal opinion,
which is far from being extinct even to-day, that only a
mother is a competent tutor for her daughter.

The very nature of country life, the difficulty of com-
munication, or the distances and the bad roads, had a natural
result in the tightening of the family life. The intimacy
of wife and husband was uninterrupted, and thus woman
became initiated into public affairs and took in them a
lively interest. Her mind, trained by activity, was pre-
pared for responsibility by the comprehension of the most
earnest concerns.

Our women, even of the highest rank, had nothing in
common with the habits of the effete European aristocracy.
They were strong in body and strong in spirit, and our his-
torical records, as well as family traditions, have preserved
the names of many heroines who have battled on the
borders of Poland against the Turks or Tartars, and often
successfully repulsed their attacks.

Courageous and useful, the Polish woman had a high
standard of morality. A strong religious conviction and

742 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

an inborn feeling of digfnity preserved her from the laxity
of morals which only too often prevailed in the higher
classes of other European nations.

This feeling of natural dignity was so deeply rooted in
our sex that during long centuries a wife's infidelity was an
exceedingly rare occurrence.

In the present days the instruction and education of the
Polish woman stand on a level equal to that of man —
sometimes above it — and yet it is admitted that our men
are distinguished by their encyclopedic knowledge. Our
women are great readers, and, as may be proved by the
statistics of our public libraries, their reading is not con-
fined to novels, but to earnest books; and therefore scientific,
literary, social, and political questions are familiar to them.
Public lectures on serious subjects are a prominent feature
of our city life, and certainly women make by far the larger
part of their audiences.

Another element which tends to sharpen woman's intel-
lect is the special character of Polish sociability. Probably
social life is nowhere developed to such an extent as in
Poland. Our men do not desert the house for the attrac-
tions of the club, the caf6, or the saloon. They remain at
home, or gather together with women in the houses of their
friends. Hospitality is essentially a virtue of the nation,
but it is a hospitality free from any kind of display, as
frequent in the humble abodes of the poor as in the palaces
of aristocracy and plutocracy. The old Polish proverb is,
"A guest in the house is God in the house.** The main
feature of these private reunions or parties is general con-
versation, directed by the lady of the house, but participated
in equally by men and women — a conversation turning
on serious topics, and where personal gossip is almost
unknown.

This sociability, spread to all classes of our nation, has
important advantages, as it reflects upon other relations
among them, as upon marriages. In other European coun-
tries it is only too often the case that the forming of mar-

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 743

riages is purely a business transaction between two parties
hardly known to each other. With u§, on account of the
frequent social intercourse, marriages are based on thorough
acquaintance, and concluded through natural sympathy.
While it can not be said that money considerations are
always the moving cause, they yet figure in a small degree
in the tying of matrimonial bonds. Thus it happens that
in Poland the poor girl has suitors as well as the rich one ;
if the latter has the advantage as to their number, the
former has a better chance in regard to the quality of her
choice.

The unmarried girl in my country enjoys a position, if
not so independent as in America, still much better than in
the rest of the European continent.

In recent times especially there has been marked prog-
ress— her social standing and her freedom of action are
gaining ground every day. As a natural consequence there
is a great movement among our unmarried girls to obtain
independent livelihood, and not to look upon marriage as
the ultimate goal of their ambition.

In a great part of Russian Poland, the so-called kingdom.
Napoleon's legislative code is still in force, and according
to it the unmarried woman of age, or the widow, has the
absolute right to dispose of her fortune, while the married
woman remains under the power of her husband. Without
his assistance she can not execute any legal act. He is
absolute master of her revenue, and is not obliged to ren-
der any account of it. His only duty is to support her and
her children in a way befitting his social position. He can
not, however, effect any sale of her estates or incur any
debts on them without her permission.

This subordinate legal situation did not act as injuriously
as it might upon the Polish woman of to-day. It did not
destroy her influence nor restrict her field of action. With
the change of economic and other conditions, and the con-
sequent disappearance of many home industries, her circle
of activity in the household became narrower, but her ener-

744 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

gies were soon directed into new channels. She is the con-
tinual helpmate of her husband in all his business enter-
prises ; she is consulted in every financial transaction, and,
if she becomes a widow, usually takes his place in the man-
agement of the business. Some of our largest fortunes and
our most important industrial establishments are directed
and controlled by women.

In the old times, when Poland was, so to say, a bulwark
between Tartars and Turks and the rest of Europe, stand-
ing on the defense of civilization against the Asiatic
hordes, when every man was a soldier, the Polish women
were left at home, the sole masters of the family and estate.
This independence developed in them a spirit of national
pride, wisdom, and courage. Forced to spend months and
years in awaiting the return of her dear ones, left for a
long time without news from the field of battle, and har-
assed by dreadful persecutions and fears, still holding a
serene countenance before the people, she attained a great
mastery over herself, and a great patience. Thus courage,
industry, patriotism, and patience are the most prominent
characteristics of Polish women.

Let us go back to the seventeenth century. What
pictures of woman's life are impressed upon my mind
from the records of our history ! I see through the mist
of ages a young, beautiful bride and her manly bride-
groom. They have just returned from church, and stand
upon the porch of the house. Her eyes are moist with
tears of happiness ; their hands clasped together, they
look at each other in silence, with a great, solemn inter-
rogation in their eyes, afraid of speaking lest they should
break the spell of the exquisite joy of the two perfectly
harmonious souls. From the house merry peals of laughter
and music come to their ears, but they do not seem to hear
it. He tenderly puts his arm around her waist and whis-
pers words of love, when suddenly he lifts his head and
listens. What is it ? The air is still, and yet in the far dis-
tance a scarcely perceptible sound is heard, first footsteps of

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 746

horses, then the clang of armor, and a few moments later
a troop of warriors gallops to the house. A dispatch is
handed to the bridegroom, which he reads in silence, but by
the expression of his face she guesses that it is a summons
to leave her and go with the others to the field of battle.

Leave her, and now ! Her face grows deadly, pale, but
there are no tears in her eyes. She extends her arms to
him, falls on his breast, then, making the sign of the cross
on his brow, she speaks firmly, " In the name of the Father,
of the Son, and the Holy Ghost, go ! " And they part. He
goes to the battle fiercer than ever. She stays at home,
left to her prayers and domestic duties, ever patient, Indus-
trious, with no other consolation but her religion, her
national pride, and the hope to see her husband soon again.
But he must come home with a brave record or else she
would rather see him in his grave. Religion and her
country first, and then love.

Another picture suggests itself to me. A young mother,
left alone with a little son five years old ; after the morning
prayer and breakfast, she leads him to the yard. An old
soldier, covered with scars, is waiting for them. He holds
two swords in his hand, one of them a mere toy, but made
of sharp, strong steel. The boy grasps his little sword —
both stand in position, and the fencing lesson commences.
The mother sits quietly watching her little one, terrified at
moments, but with a smile on her lips. From time to time
the veteran gives points to the little warrior. " Cover your
head — your side. No! that's not good — try again — not
this way — take care or I will cut.'' And he cuts. The boy
grows pale with rage. Mother comes to him, bandages the
slight wound. The old soldier apologizes, but she only
says, " You have done right ; he will do better next time."
Again she sits among her maids, spinning, sewing, or
embroidering the church vestments. She talks to the girls,
she tells them legends, stories of battles, or reads to them
the New Testament and lives of saints. When the work
is over, all unite in evening prayers and songs.

746 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Such a life must have developed a sense of responsibility,
authority, and chastity. This training lasted for gener-
ations, and its eflFects are so deeply rooted, so distinctly
marked, that they can not be erased, either by economic
or social changes or by political upheavals.

The best proof that the tradition of the past still lives
in the Polish woman's heart is the share she took in our
constant struggle for independence.

When the impious spirit of our three Christian neighbor-
ing monarchies prompted them to form a so-called holy
alliance in order to crush and tear to pieces our unfortunate
country, which was then the only representative of self-
government and personal liberty ; when, not satisfied with
the annexation and division of Poland, they robbed and
pillaged our land from end to end, stabbing the very heart
of our national life, destroying our institutions, persecuting
our language and religion, shutting all the gates to civili-
zation and progress ; when our men, exhausted by wars and
defeats, became despondent and disheartened — it was the
Polish woman who stood like a guardian angel at the doors
of their conscience. She it was who encouraged them,
always ready to lay down her life for the welfare and inde-
pendence of her country. It was she who taught her sons
how to defy our enemies, sl^e who preserved the tradition of
honor, patriotism, valor, and integrity, not allowing herself
a moment to rest, but working with strange tenacity, in
spite of bullets, the chain, Liberia, and, worst of all, the
lash with which she was often punished, to the everlasting
disgrace of the Russian government.

Our enemies are making a great mistake if they think
that they can kill patriotism. As long as there is one Polish
woman left alive Poland will not die, and the more they
persecute us the better it is for us now. We may have
deserved punishment for the faults and mistakes of the
past ; we must pay the penalty, and God only knows at what
expense we pay it.

A well-known French writer says that the best thing

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 747

about Poland is the Polish mother. He spoke the truth ;
and I take the opportunity afforded me by this congress to
send Polish mothers a message across the ocean, a message
of respect, love, and veneration. The world knows of the
Roman matron and the Spartan mother. I dare claim a
place next to them for the Polish mother. When the
French artist, Horace Vemet, was asked by Czar Nicholas
to paint an episode from the last struggle between Poland
and Russia, he answered, ** Your Majesty will excuse me ;
I never painted Christ on the cross." And he was right.
Poland was crucified, but was there not a mother kneeling
beneath the cross of Golgotha waiting patiently for resur-
rection? And" is there not also to-day the Polish mother
waiting patiently and praying for the resurrection of her
country ? Will she wait forever ? No ; if there is justice
on earth she will not wait in vain.

Woman in Italy— An Address by Fanny Zampini
Salazar of Naples, Italy.

I will try to generalize my study and mark briefly the
differences existing in the different parts of modem Italy,
the north being far in advance of the south.

This may be explained by the fact that the south was for
long years the prey of ignorant rulers, while the north was
governed by more intelligent, though no less tyrannical
and oppressive^ sovereigns, who did not, however, consider
it improper to offer means of culture to their people. And
while this happened in the two extreme parts of Italy, the
center was no better oflf under the dominion of popes, whose
religious mission unfortunately changed into a political one.
Since 1870 this political aim has increased and spread all
over Italy, the priesthood regarding it as a duty to keep
a control not only over souls and what regards religious
matters, but in other concerns of life, and above all in
politics. Feeling that men escape such control, priests con-

748 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

centrate all their efforts to keep women under their influ-
ence. If such influence were exercised in good faith and
for pure religious purposes, all that is best might come of
it; but unfortunately, the strangest anti-patriotic feeling
rules their behavior. The ardent dream dreamt by our
patriots in prison and in exile during the long years of
subjection, and realized in the union of Italy, with Rome
as a capital, leaves the priests cold and indifferent, dis-
satisfied and angry.

Hence a perpetual struggle to reconquer temporal power
makes of the purest of human feelings, religion, a question
of politics, not with a view to the welfare and the prosperity
of the nation, but for the meanest ends of worldly ambition.

Men influenced by women, though often quite uncon-
sciously, are kept from taking any part in elections, which
being left mostly to ignorant and ambitious people, are
used for mean, personal views of obtaining power, fortune,
and influence.

The results are what lately created shameful scandals,
and made the hearts of true Italians bleed with sorrow.
And while clericals, in hopes of repressing progress and
reconquering Rome, work in every way, extending their
influence even over persons whose position and interest
ought to keep them far from their reach, the Italian gov-
ernment, as a sort of reaction, has no religious culture in
public schools. The result of both these measures is a
relaxation in moral feelings, to the great detriment of
religion and politics, regarded in the highest sense of their
noble meaning.

Women consider themselves pious if they follow relig-
ious practices, and men are considered good citizens if they
look on, complaining if all does not go right in the country,
but seldom rising to the consciousness of their political
duties.

Uncultivated women can not understand the noble in-
fluence they might exercise for the welfare of their coun-
try, elevating around them family and society. The few

Makv Joskimiini: oxaiian. Mrs. Jknkin Lu»vi) Jonks.

Kkv. Ldrenza a. Havxks.

Mrs. J. T. (iRAi I V. Rkv. Anna H. Shaw.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 749

who realize such a duty, and try to accomplish it, are tired
to death by misunderstandings, opposition, and unfair
criticism. Men are more easily led in general by the so-
called feeble women who rule over them, while seeming
entirely subjected to their will. Strong, earnest, loyaU
noble-minded women, whose culture and interest in edu-
cational, social, and political matters makes their conver-
sation much prized in society, though admired, are feared
and kept carefully apart, from a strange sort of prejudice
about their becoming too influential in the country.

Of course men wish to keep their predomination, and
though disposed to accept privately woman's reasonable
advice and moral help, they take great care not to make
her conscious of her power. And so in society they make
much more of light, well-dressed, insignificant women^
whose influence they fear not, being in this case uncon-
scious that such negative influence leads them down to
the lower level of such charming, useless, empty-minded
creatures.

Again, the great differences to be found in the various
social classes make it also difficult to define a typical woman
in Italy. We have aristocracy, from which class very little
indeed is to be hoped. In this class only a few exceptions
are worthy of notice for giving their life a really noble aim.
In general, old prejudice, ignorance, pride, a sybaritical
conception of life, considered with the most selfish views
of satisfaction of a mere material order, reign supreme in
that part of society, which so easily might do so much
good.

The middle class contains cultivated persons actively-
busy in some sort or other of serious work in life. We
have there a group of intelligent, learned women gifted
with modem ideas and trying to their utmost to contribute
to social progress. They do not turn to the higher classes
for help ; none or very little indeed would come to them
from that side ; but they look toward the people hopefully
for the future moral regeneration of Italy. We have indeed

49

750 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

all to hope from this much neglected and greatly oppressed
social class.

The Italian people have the best human instincts. With
a little culture and much love anything might be made of
them. But allow me to observe that we must not judge of
the Italian by some specimens of poor emigrants, stupefied
by the long struggle with want and sorrow before they
make up their minds to leave the old home ties, the beloved
fatherland.

In general, Italians belonging to the popular classes are
full of heart and kindness, frugal, simple, much attached to
their families and the place where they are born ; they need
only the enlightenment of culture to rise strong and pow-
erful in the full consciousness of their more sacred rights
to a nobler life. But here again an ignorant priesthood and
prejudice, political fears and negligence, frustrate the few
•eflforts made in favor of their elevation. They are flattered
when their aid is required, helped occasionally by humiliat-
ing charity, and kept down in the dark regions of ignorance
and poverty.

Badly fed, badly paid, oppressed by heavy taxes, often
without work, no wonder their life is a hard struggle, only
kept up in sacrifice and suffering, unconscious of any
right to a brighter one. I often tried in the southern prov-
inces and in Rome to arouse humanitarian feelings in the
idle upper classes, speaking and writing about all that has
been done in England for the moral and intellectual eleva-
tion of women and the people. I only obtained praises and
nice words, without ever being able to begin, even on a
small scale, something practical in the way of associations
of cultivated persons to promote organizations of various
kinds in favor of these neglected parts of our country
people.

The press in Italy encourages such a movement, but the
fearful indifference of the people, want of means, and the
opposition of clericals and prejudiced persons are still to
be overcome.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 751

This work I consider must be undertaken by women, and
I am glad to be able to say that we have begun to under-
take it in the northern provinces, and I trust that it will
bring its fruits in time.

In Bologna, the ancient university town, where learned
women once taught in the character of acknowledged
professors, in Milan and in Turin, associations exist and
are being established with a view to promoting woman's
progress and popular culture.

In Bologna ladies have been at work now for the last two
years ; and indeed it is there I noticed the most important
group of intelligent women, actively busy to promote the
interests of their moral and legal condition. What struck
me in Bologna was the solidarity of these cultivated
women so earnestly at work together. It is there that the
noble influence of one of our greatest Italians, Mazzini,
is deeply felt, for a nobly gifted English woman, whose
soul was given to Italy on vasiTTying Mazzini's best friend,
Aurelio SafB, has perseveringly been at work in the sunny
years of her happy youth and the sad ones of her widow-
hood, always trying in all ways to elevate all those around
her. She has established at Forli women's associations,
whose ends are to promote culture, to give sisterly help in
need, and to find work for all.

In Milan we have a remarkable group of intellectual
women, but segregated, each working in her own way.
Still these few, just beginning to work together, have felt
the need of establishing an association to promote the
interest of their sex. When I was there lately Pauline Schiflf,
a learned university teacher, of German origin, published
the programme of an important association, to which many
gave their names. In Milan are some very excellent
schools for girls. I met there a most remarkable woman,
Alexandrina Ravizza, whose life is entirely devoted to
good works, and who has no end of trouble to go on
with them, because she will have nothing to do with
clericals, and is full of human feelings of pity and sorrow

762 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

for unfortunate girls whom she tries to help and save from
disgrace.

In Turin also is a very interesting group of cultivated
women, actively busy trying to unite their efforts to estab-
lish some useful associations of liberal character like those
of Bologna and Milan.

In Rome we have two societies, but of quite a different
order, most conservative in their ends and views. One was
lately established by the efforts of a brilliant, earnest,
learned young professor and deputy, Angelo Celli, who
succeeded in interesting a group of cultivated ladies of the
aristocracy in the fate of poor women in want of work and
help. This society in fact is called " Help and Work," and
was organized two years ago under the patronage of Her
Majesty our Queen Margherita. It is now prospering, and
much good comes of it. Poor women find work and help
during sickness or want, their young children being taken
care of during the hours of work, in a sort of nursery
school established by the daughters of the ladies who helped
Professor Celli to start that society. Still, useful as it is, no
attention is given to intellectual culture or recreation, as is
done in America and England in similar institutions. Very
probably opposition would arise if such a thing were pro-
posed, and the little good done would cease.

The other society of ladies — established in 1873, in
Rome, with the aim of promoting woman's superior
culture — is such a mystification that indeed it deserves
honest criticism. I think nothing could reveal better
the subjection of our women to prejudices and old ideas
than this association which pretends to promote woman's
culture by a weekly lecture, mostly regarding ancient
history, and carefully excluding any of the modern
questions regarding social, educational, legal or practical
questions.

In place of awaking the mind to examine these most
important subjects, it seems that the aim of this society is
to put it to sleep by the constant repetition of what we

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 753

all can read or have more or less been learning at school.
Now and then, very rarely, a beautiful and interesting
lecture is given, but in general they are very dull indeed.
Fashionable ladies go because the queen goes, but often
I noticed how all of them seemed uninterested in the
speaker s old-fashioned theme.

Another strange feature of this society is that lady lec-
turers are excluded from giving lectures there, though we
have now in Italy a remarkable number of cultivated
women who give lectures with success. I believe that if
the above-mentioned society were conducted in a modem
spirit, it would indeed become the means of promoting
women's culture, which needs a thorough, intelligent re-
form as is felt by many interested in this important ques-
tion. Three years ago Professor Angelo de Gubernatis,
with a view to associating all persons interested and offer-
ing a study of the progress made by women in Italy,
organized in Florence an exhibition of women's work,
and arranged that a set of lectures regarding Italian women
should be given by ladies. These lectures were published
in book form, and are worthy of notice for their originality
of thought and ideas.

Concerning women's education in modern Italy, I have
much to say. We have public schools for elementary cult-
ure; superior schools for girls, where a superior teaching is
greatly required; and normal schools for those wishing to
become teachers, but no proper training colleges for them ;
the programmes of studies are indeed defective in almost
every department.

Our present minister of instruction, Ferdinando Martini,
is fortunately a high-minded man of modern ideas regard-
ing women's culture, and he is studying a project for the
entire reform of superior education for both sexes. This
work is a very hard one, for in Italy all is expected from
the government, as we are lacking in individual initiative,
which can do so much practical work when intelligently
exercised.

754 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Women are now admitted to the universities, lyceums,
and gymnasiums, but have none for themselves exclusively,
so that, with the reluctance of parents for mixed education,
girls can very seldom profit by these institutions.

Schools of art are open to girls, but here also the same
objection prevents them from joining in the classes where
all young men are not always as refined as they should be.
In the way of education we have still much to do, as not all
understand that culture is one thing and education another,
and that both should be required.

We have also in Italy several professional schools for the
working classes, and these answer the purpose, though I
think they ought to provide for some more mental culture,
and not limit their end to mere manual work. This I con-
sider the principal defect in most of our Italian institu-
tions— little or no regard for the moral culture, that
culture which tends to elevate the souls of the pupils
and g^ve them a high conception of life and of all the
sacred duties which make it full and worthy to be lived.
The mere teaching of reading, writing, and other subjects
of study is nothing if with it the mind is not led to think
and consider life's problems, its duties, and its rights to
make it a noble and beautiful one. Some new and very
well organized institutions answer such an end, for they are
the work of noble-hearted and highly gifted Italians.

There is the Suor Ursola College for girls in Naples,
entirely reformed by the Princess Strongoli Pignatelli, a
learned, high-minded woman, whose life is entirely devoted
to good works. She is one of the most esteemed and
beloved ladies of honor of Queen Margherita. Princess
Strongoli Pignatelli has also established in Naples, together
with Countess Lauseverino Vinercati Tarsis, another college
for poor orphan girls.

A beautiful college for the daughters of the public teach-
ers was also lately organized by one of our greatest Italians,
Ruggero Bonghi. He had visited England, and wished to
establish some girls' colleges, such as he had admired there.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 755

With persevering efforts, through many material difficul-
ties, but supported by a strong will and by the influence
of his position, he succeeded at last. This college is near
Rome, in a pleasant, old-fashioned country place, Anagni,
and is progressing fairly. Her Majesty the queen of Italy
patronizes it, and it bears her name, " College Margaret of
Savoy."

In Naples we have other remarkable old colleges for girls,
bound to old-fashioned, conventional systems of education;
but to give you an idea of our customs, I only state that
while the entire educational staff is composed of ladies^
most of whom reside in the colleges, the superintendence
of them is exercised entirely by gentlemen. Two of these
are distinguished young writers, the Duke Richard Carafa
D'Andria and Benedetto Croce. A superintendence by
ladies has not even been thought of.

That women are able to take a part in public affairs of
any sort is still an idea hard to establish in Italy. Even
when obliged to work, so few ways are opened to their
activity besides teaching. And the only reason is that a
strong prejudice exists against women ; they are not con-
sidered fit to work, and how could they be, while even
when they are trained to it, they are so little trusted ? If
they follow superior studies and obtain some scientific
degree, except as medical doctors, they are actually pre-
vented from competing in any of the high professions fol-
lowed by men. A young Turinese lady. Miss Lydia Poet,
following with success the university courses, obtained some
years ago her degree in law. Well, men got so frightened
at such a competition that they managed to exclude her
from the exercise of her profession, stating that it would
demoralize the tribunal if women were allowed to work
there. The press tried to explain the injustice and ille-
gality of such a proceeding, but with no result at all. No-
other woman went in for university legal studies, and the
noble girl who had a right to the independent profession
she had chosen was obliged to give it up, though privately

756 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

she works in the legal office of her brother, who considers
her help most useful. As medical doctors, women could
have a large practice and a most important field of action,
but here again prejudice is against them, though our queen
gave her moral support to the profession, naming as her
honorary medical attendant a Turinese lady, Miss Mary
Valleda Fame. This learned and well-known woman
would have had a brilliant career anywhere else, as she
was also appointed medical assistant at the principal hos-
pital in Rome, by one of our greatest doctors, Baccelli.
But she could in no way overcome public prejudice against
a woman doctor, and she must be satisfied with her very
select though small practice.

Music is a profession allowed to women in Italy, and sev-
eral struggle on as music teachers, and a few rise to the
summit of art as opera singers or concertists. We have in
Italy very good conservatories, where, besides music (sing-
ing), a proper literary education is given. The most
remarkable and important Italian conservatories are in
Naples, Rome, and Milan.

In public business, women may occupy only post, tele-
graph, and telephone offices, but competition is so great
in these branches that now it is most difficult to find there
some free place to be got.

So the highest places that a woman may hope to obtain
are only educational, the highest being those of inspect-
resses or principals of the best government schools ; and
all those places are much sought after, notwithstanding
that they seldom pay more than about one thousand
dollars a year at the very most. Liberal professions, such
as writing, painting, music, acting, singing, are full of
difficulties, and require a first-rate talent, much perseverance
to overcome the beginnings, and also a great good chance
to succeed in living on them.

However, we have now a remarkable number of women
struggling for their economic independence with their
own work. The larger number of these are writers, some

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 757

of whom succeed in making a living, though a very modest
living indeed. Publishers seldom pay more than from one
to four hundred dollars for a book, which they sell in not
less than a thousand-copy edition, getting about eight
hundred dollars for it when it has little or no success, but
when three or four thousand copies are sold, usually the
publisher alone profits by the sale. The printing expenses
are not very high, so we have in Italy rich publishers,
but I know of no writers who have made a fortune with
their pen.

Woman's intellectual work in Italy is not encouraged
even by those who ought to regard it as a duty. So, of
course, without encouragement or organization our group
of distinguished, cultivated women could not manage to
send all their literary productions to swell the library in
the Woman's Building.

As for industry, if the beautiful, artistic lacework they
do appears to its full advantage, all the honor is due
to your noble countrywoman's efforts, Countess Cora di
Brazza, for it is to her alone that we owe all that is to
be admired in the Italian section of the Woman's Build-
ing. The rich, historical laces of our royal family she ob-
tained herself from our queen, and many others from per-
sonal friends. But her perseverance in teaching and in
organizing schools for lacemaking, to give easy and beau-
tiful work to the Italian peasant girls, is indeed worthy of all
praise. Many noble ladies have lately been interested in
this industry in Italy, foremost the late lamented Countess
Andriana Zon Marcello, who revived the old lace manu-
factories in Venice, and the Countess Maria Pasolini, one
of the few ladies in the Italian aristocracy remarkable for
her culture and interest in the girls of the working classes.

We still want some of these cultivated women to take a
serious, active, large-minded interest in intellectual prog-
ress. But you must kindly take also into consideration that
we belong to a very young nation, and though we can boast
of a splendid past we suffer still from the consequences of

758 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

a long, hard period of subjection and spiritual darkness.
Time alone can help Italian women to develop their intel-
lectual and moral faculties so as to rise to the standard they
have the right to attain.

As for women's papers, we have now a few nicely written,
but of a light literary kind, and several stupid ones exclus-
ively regarding French fashions. Having dared, some
years ago, at my own expense alone, to establish a Review
for promoting the intellectual, moral, and legal interests of
women, I was obliged after twenty months to give it up,
though I had ventured to interest our queen in it, and also
a number of cultivated people. But the review did not
please those clericals who energetically oppose woman's
progress, and they managed things so well that the paper
had to come to an end. Tired, I would have given up my
work, but a deep feeling of duty to go on with it made me
publish lately a book in which is an account of all the
struggles endured during the best twelve years of my life,
spent in earnestly trying to elevate woman's intellectual
standard in Italy. In the same volume are published the
lectures I gave on the subject, and my account to the Italian
government of woman's culture and work in England.

This book cleared many misunderstandings, and was con-
sidered by many eminent writers of both sexes to contain
the true conception of the ideal womanhood we have to
attain in Italy. Indeed, I am happy and proud to say that I
owe to that book the venture of being here, as the Italian
minister of instruction asked me to write a like report
regarding woman's institutions in America, when he heard
I had been invited to the Woman's Congress. During my
last tour in Italy I had the pleasure of observing a remark-
able change in the general public opinion regarding the
woman question. Many ideas, not understood ten years ago,
are now perfectly admitted. So I look forward hopefully to
our future, trusting in the revival of education to elevate
culture, and in the much needed reforms in our laws to
control the fearful injustice bywhich women are oppressed.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS, 759'

This leads me to say a few words about the legal condi^
tion of women in modem Italy. If we look at the civil and
penal code of Italy, at all laws which relate to women, their
rights, their culture and work, we easily perceive that a
general opinion of their moral weakness inspired all these
laws. It is commonly believed in Italy that a woman is
intellectually, morally, and physically inferior to man ; that
she ca;n not stand by herself in life, nor presume to be
respected and considered if she is not supported by the
protection of man.

What this protection often means is misery to reveal. Ital-
ians, both men and women, have very distinct characteristics,
of which also we must take notice, to understand better
their present condition and the reforms required for their
social and intellectual progress. Above all, they are in-
tensely passionate creatures, and the family links are very
strong ; this much more to the south, where woman's indi-
viduality rarely exists. Woman lives the life man makes
for her. As a child and girl she obeys blindly her father ;
as a woman her will submits entirely to her husband, whom
she regards as the absolute master of her body and soul.
If she does not marry, old as she may become, she remains
always the obedient child of parent or brother, and never
dares to regard herself as a free human being. This is the
worst of it all, the general want of consciousness of one's
own individual rights. Very often I tried to arouse such
feelings in some naturally intelligent woman of our south-
ern provinces ; she looked at me with wide-open eyes as if I
spoke some unintelligible language. The idea of breaking
the chains which bind her in total subjection to man
seemed to her mere madness. In the northern provinces
the chains exist too, but of a different sort, lighter because
women have a relative liberty, and easier to bear because
more apparent than effective, more in form than substance.

Of course we can not expect every one everywhere to
take the same course in life, and having well studied Italian
women, I think they should be principally trained to

780 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

become good mothers, which means, as I regard it, to
develop in a noble sense their natural instincts and make
them capable of generous, kind, motherly feelings for
human kind in general, when they are not blessed with
children of their own. Humanitarian feelings are latent
in the souls of Italians, and intelligently developed would
become the best agents for elevating the people. It is, I
fully believe, by kind, affectionate, earnest interest and
sympathy in each other that life could be made easier and
brighter for all, all over the world. As Giorgina Saffi
beautifully expresses it in an address to young Italians,
" Passions and the power of life which give us such inten-
sity of feeling should be turned in active efforts for the
welfare of our country people. Then young people would
find more strength to work with, more love to promote
the greatness, the power of a glorious future for Italy.
The generation which has preceded us has accomplished
great and noble facts on the ground of material action.
Far from having reached entirely the ideal of our patriots,
still the geographical union of Italy is almost realized.
Though full of difficulties, a not less grand and glorious
undertaking is left to us, to consecrate all our strength and
energy for the moral regeneration of our country." *

United all round the world in noble efforts, we must
feel sure of winning gloriously at last, in the name of the
highest and purest ideals of human brotherhood, the holy
battle of individual liberty and independence. The dream
of the age lies in the enfranchisement of the human race,
without consideration of class or sex.

DISCUSSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT BY SOFIA BOMPIANI OF

ITALY.

The Italian ideal of womanly excellence may be gath-
ered from the characters of those women who are praised

* Giorgina Saffi, Pensieri di una Madre ripografia Democratica — Forli.
1876.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 761

and admired. These are held up as models to the major-
ity, whose minds, it must be confessed, are vitiated by the
reading of corrupt French novels and by the theater. Yet
the examples of heroic self-devotion, of conjugal fidelity,
and of the long-enduring, patient, and humble domestic
virtues are so numerous that these may be considered, after
all, the true type of Italian womanhood. When Clementina,
the wife of Giovanni Lanza, the Spartan-like statesman who
lived and died in poverty, although he might have accepted
more from the government which he served, refused in her
widowhood and need any help from the king, because " he **
would not have approved, there was a cry of approbation
from every part of Italy.

When Elena Cairoli, who for months nursed her dying
husband as the giiest of the king in one of the enchanting
royal palaces at Naples, and then accompanied the honored
dead from Naples to Groppello, being received like a queen
at every station, shut herself up with her grief in the coun-
try house of the Cairoli family, senators and deputies in the
senate and in parliament, and the king himself, sent her
messages of reverence and praise.

She who had been the "beloved consort" of Benedetto
Cairoli, and remains still beautiful and in the maturity of
life, the last to bear that honored name, must continue the
traditions of the family. ** I bless her," wrote Benedetto in
his last days in a letter to a friend, ** and hope that she will
find the courage to live on for duty and in memory of her
love for me. The mission of my Elena does not end when
I die, for she must live to imitate my revered mother.**
The name of Adelaide Cairoli, who gave her five sons to
Italy, four of whom were killed in battle, is precious to
Italian patriots.

Another widow who remained sole guardian of a cele-
brated name was Isabella Sclopis, wife of Count Frederick
Sclopis, the president of the Committee for Arbitration
of the Alabama Claims. Her death lately in Turin recalled
the part she had in the labors of that negotiation. She

762 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

assisted her husband in the correspondence, so that he was
enabled to dispense with a secretary, and received from
the English government a splendid service of silver for
what she did. " She had no children, but adopted the
poor," was the eulogy given to her when she passed away.

Queen Margherita of Italy is praised not so much for her
beauty and grace, her skill in court etiquette, and her intel-
ligence, as for her courage, patriotism, and charity. The
•excursions she makes on the Alps, near Courmayeur, at the
foot of San Bernardo, are considered as an example to her
subjects, and the unfeigned interest she takes in schools
and asylums makes her generally beloved.

Maria Fazzari, mother of three well-known soldiers of
Garibaldi, who lately died in Calabria, at eighty years of
age, was a woman of great strength of character and rare
domestic virtue. Left while yet a young woman, by the
perpetual imprisonment of her patriot husband, to gain
bread for herself and children, she supported the long pov-
erty and pain with patience and courage, and lived to be
honored and blessed in a good old age.

Santa Cadet was a woman celebrated for her eccentrici-
ties as well as for her patriotism in the times that tried
men's and women*s souls. She conspired against the pon-
tifical government, but was not molested by the police,
partly because she had a brother a professor in the univer-
sity, and because they did not fear that the " Sora Santa"
coufd overturn the temporal power. In 1849 she assisted
the wounded in the battles with the French on the Janicu-
lum, and afterward to the end of her life admired Gari-
baldi and Mazzini. She took part in every republican and
anti-clerical demonstration, as -well as the public patriotic
celebrations, marching with the rest and wearing her black
and white check shawl and large close bonnet. The tele-
grams which she sent to other countries were often read on
these occasions. She was a woman of culture and great
activity, and charitable to the poor according to her means.
At the funeral her body was wrapped in the flag of the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 763

anti-clerical society, the cross was removed from the
hearse and replaced by a bunch of red flowers, and no
priest, either Papal or Protestant, read prayers above her
grave.

This passion for public life is exceptional with Italian
women in times of peace, although they are ready for any
heroic deeds in war.

Rosalie Crispi, who still sometimes walks in Garibaldian
processions, was one of the " Mille," or Thousand of Mar-
sala, and is the only woman entitled to wear that honorable
medal. The activity of Italian women is generally shown
in acts of benevolence. The Duchess of Galliera founded
hospitals at Genoa; the Duchess of Ceri — the daughter
and heiress of Prince Torlonia — gave lately forty thousand
dollars for an aqueduct to provide water for the town of
Avezzana, near the Lake Fucino, drained by her father ;
and the Signora Gola presented her own magnificent villa
near Turin for a gymnasium for the children of the schools
and asylums of that city. The Nathan family in Rome has
founded an institute for finding places for girls out of work,
and the burden of its direction is borne chiefly by Signora
Virginia Nathan.

Another woman, educated and cultured, after spending
all of her own little patrimony in founding a refuge for the
poor and forsaken, betook herself to asking charity at night
for them in the caf^s and public squares. Signora Maria
Capozzi, dressed neatly in black, distributes the prospectus
of her institute at night among the frequenters of the caf^s,
and with a smile receives the '* soldo '' or more which they
give her. She is universally respected, but as there is a
law against mendicancy, even when it is done in the holy
"name of charity, she was advised by the police to procure a
license for selling matches or something similar.

Amalia Prandi has been the directress since its founda-
tion of the Professional School for Girls, which has now six
hundred pupils. This is a municipal institution, but its
great success and usefulness are due to the executive talent

764 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

of this woman. She also had an important share in found-
ing the School for Nurses, now in operation on the Jani-
culum, by persuading many of the scholars at the Pro-
fessional School to go there. This institution, supported
by the city, was founded at the suggestion of the eminent
surgeon Durante, who was sent by the government to study
sanitary establishments in the United States.

In June, 1890, a national exposition of feminine labor
was held in Florence. The sculptors, the painters, the
writers of prose and poetry and plays and school-books ; the
workers in gold and silver thread, on velvet, on satin and
on linen ; the tapestry workers, the flower makers, the glove
makers, all sent specimens of their skill to Florence. The
actresses recited, the singers sang, the musicians played on
harp, and piano, and violin ; the teachers taught to show
how they did it. There were lectures on the Italian woman
in the thirteenth century, at the Renaissance, and in the
seventeenth century; on the character of woman in the
various regions of Italy ; on woman in the family, in
society, and in charitable deeds. All this fervor was not
so much to hold an exposition of women's work as to cele-
brate the sixth centenary of the death of Beatrice Portinari,
the inspirer of Dante. This idea was considered by many
a mistaken one, and serious opposition was made to calling
the exposition by that name. Some even doubted that this
Beatrice had ever really existed ; others, among whom was
the poet Carducci, averred that the Beatrice of the Divina
Commedia was only theology, and others thought such
honor were better given to the mother or the wife of the
famous poet.

The fourth centenary of the birth of Vittoria Colonna
will be celebrated in a short time at Marino, a town on the
Roman Campagna, in the ancient castle of the Colonna
family. The monastery where this celebrated woman ended
her days, and the church where she was buried, have been
demolished in the recent changes in Rome, but the palace
of the Colonna, much altered from her time, occupies its

JUANIIA BRECKENKIDGE.
MEKI TOPPELIUS.

Carrie Lane Chapman.
Amelia Stone oiinton.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 765

old place in the Piazza dei Santi Apostoli, and the tower of
the family may yet be seen in the Via Tre Cannelle.

The question of woman's right to vote was raised in par-
liament three years ago by several members who have long
openly espoused this cause. Minister Crispi opposed it,
saying that the question was not yet ripe, although it has
been discussed since 1861. The eligibility of woman to take
part in public charities was also discussed in the Senate,
but the old idea that woman's place is exclusively at home
prevailed. All women, however, do not stay there. The
force of her genius as Improvisatrice made Giannina Milli
known all over Italy.

Guiseppina Cattani, thirty-one years old, is now professor
of bacteriology in the University of Bologna. Fanny Zam-
pini Salazar and Celia Folchi give public lectures. Caterina
Pigorini Beri is well known for her numerous writings on
political and educational subjects. Her sister, Countess
Angela Ferraris, the wife of the ex-minister of grace and
justice, was only a few years ago a teacher in the public
schools.

Women in Agriculture in Siam — An Address by Lady
linchee suriva, official representative of slam.

Before entering upon the subject on which I am requested
to write — the share of work done by Siamese women in
agriculture — I deem it necessary to say a few words as
to the general condition of my country in relation to
agriculture.

The area of the kingdom of Siam extends, approximately,,
from the fourth to the twenty-second degree of north lati-
tude, and from the ninety-sixth to the one hundred and
ninth degree of east longitude, and contains about two
hundred and fifty thousand square miles, with a small
population estimated from ten to twelve millions. Of
these only about two-thirds are purely Siamese, the rest

60

766 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

being formed of different races, such as Lacs, Karens,
Anamites, Cambodians, Malays, and Pegnans, who are
descendants of captives from different wars, or of people
of the various dependencies of Siam. The Chinese popu-
lation also forms a large percentage. Under the influence
of the tropical climate and the favorable geological for-
mation of land, coupled with the abundance of water
supply by natural streams and rainfall, every part of
the country, with hardly an exception, presents a very
fertile soil, producing the most exuberant vegetation,
unsurpassed by any other country on the face of the earth.
Such a degree of productiveness of the soil naturally
affords all the year round an abundance of a great variety
of vegetable and animal food, and enables its inhabitants
to live in perfect ease and contentment. By a liberal law
every one has a right to appropriate for cultivation any
area of waste land by paying, once for all, for securing a
title deed, a small fee of one tical (equal to about forty
cents of United States currency) per rai, equal to seventy-
seyen thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven square
feet. The extent of the area of land thus appropriated, or
even owned by right of purchase, or by any other means, is
limited somewhat indirectly by a law which recognizes all
claims to appropriation of land not under actual cultivation
for more than three years. As agriculture is the chief pur-
suit of the Siamese nation, the inhabitants are naturally
fond of living near rivers, which not only irrigate and ferti-
lize their fields by periodical inundations, but afford the best
and simplest means of transportation. Consequently, the
density of the population of Siam is almost entirely con-
fined within the limits of the basins of its principal rivers,
along which towns and villages are scattered, vsirying in
size and distances apart according to the greater or less
productiveness of the land and the conveniences of traffic.
The greater part of the population of Siam occupies itself
in cultivating field crops, chiefly rice, and the cheapness of
the land, coupled with the ease and little labor required in

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. ^ 1^1

its cultivation, makes it necessary for a man, in order to
keep himself busy all the season, to own a large acreage of
land, increasing thereby the distances between separate
homes. Moreover, among these peasant proprietors, hired
labor is almost unheard of, for every one has his own ground
to till and his toil laid out at the same time. Under such
circumstances the share of women's work among the labor-
ing class attains its maximum.

A girl's education is very often neglected entirely, unlike
that of her brothers, who, being sent to live with the priests
in the temples, derive some benefit from their sojourn
away from their homes. At an early age a girl begins
already to be of some use to her parents. When they
are out working she remains at home to take care of her
little brothers and sisters, or goes out with them to
watch the cattle graze, or to scare birds when the crops
begin to bear fruit. As she grows up her parents take her
out in a boat, in which they paddle about with the products
of their labor for sale. She soon learns to manage the boat,
and to sell goods without her parents' aid. During her
leisure hours her mother teaches her how to spin, weave,
and to use a needle, as women generally make all the cloth-
ing for the family. After her marriage she either remains
with her husband at her parents' home or follows her hus-
band to live with his parents. Only in cases where the fam-
ilies on both sides are already large must the married
couple find a new home for themselves. In such cases the
burden of work that falls to the share of the wife is nearly
as heavy as the husband's, for they must necessarily engage
together in almost every kind of work of the field. As a
general rule, however, the couple takes one or two young
relatives to help them in their toil. Hard as may seem
the lot of women among the poorest class, yet the hardships
they have to contend with are only during the planting
season, which lasts about six months of the year, and the
remuneration for their labor is sufficient to enable them to
remain idle during the remainder of the year, if they so

768 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

desire. Moreover, their toil is lessened in a great degree
by a sort of cooperation which they adopt. This simply
consists in each peasant by turns inviting his neighbors
to assist him gratuitously in the heaviest parts of his work
on the land, such as plowing, planting, harvesting, or
threshing. The hostess, on this occasion, with the aid of
her friends, prepares a good feast to entertain her invited
guests ; men and women come with their own implements
and their best team of oxen. They set to work systemat-
ically from morning till noon, when lunch is served ; then
after a short rest they continue to work till nearly sun-
set. The scene on such a day is beautiful indeed. Groups
of men and women, gaily dressed in bright colors, are to
be seen scattered over the fields, earnestly working with
their utmost energy and striving to compete with one
another in skill, while pleasant songs, cheers, and laugh-
ter are to be heard on all sides. After the day's work is
over they assemble at dinner; drinks are freely served,
and all kinds of merry-making takes place until late at
night. In this manner the plowing, planting, harvesting,
and threshing are done each in one day, thereby lessening
in a very great measure the hardships of toil. In the field
women, as a rule, take part only in the work of sowing,
planting, harvesting, and threshing ; men do the rest of the
heavy work.

There is another class of agricultural women distinguish-
able from that already mentioned. They belong to the
garden districts that are located in the vicinity of the towns
and cities. Here their condition is much better. Having
constant relations with the town people, their education is
not neglected, and they generally give proof of greater
intelligence, culture, and refinement than the women of the
fields. Their complexion is fairer, as they do less physical
work, and are not so often exposed to the heat of the sun.
Now and again they help the men to water their fruit-trees
and do some weeding, mostly in the shade of the trees.
Their chief occupation is to gather fruit and vegetables.

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 769

to take them to market, and as they plant a variety of
these in order to make the land yield in all the seasons of
the year, they are kept busy almost every day. In addition
to this, they make cakes, conserves, and pickles, and dis-
pose of them together with the produce of the garden.
There are many who keep small shops in front of their
orchards on the river side, and sell, besides their fruits,
groceries, sweetmeats, cigarettes, and many other things
either made at home or bought from wholesale dealers.
The women of this class are diligent and most economical.
They rise at as early as three o'clock in the morning, and
before the townspeople are up their goods are all ready for
sale in their boats at the floating markets.

Although as a class they are considered extremely eco-
nomical, yet they are as liberal as the townspeople in their
contributions to charities. They have good houses to live
in comfortably, and sufficient means to be considered as
belonging to the middle classes. Of course, among these,
as among the class of farmers above described, there are
many who are really rich, and who own considerable
property.

Besides these two classes, there are many other agricult-
ural women of the various tribes that are tributary to
Siam, having their peculiarities of character and their cus-
toms, but as they do not belong to the Siamese race proper,
I will not deal with them here.

It would be out of place for me here to compare the con-
dition of Siamese farmers with that of those of any other
country, but the fact that nearly every one either works
upon his own land or that of his family, will itself explain
in what state of happiness and contentment they are. The
price of rice-growing land is not beyond the reach of the
poor, and therefore it does not pay the rich to buy land for
the sole purpose of renting. . If the rich man works his
land himself on a large scale, somehow or other he will
find that he can not compete with his small neighbors, and
generally in the end he is obliged to let his land at a nomi-

770 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

nal rent, which amounts ordinarily to about one-sixth part
of his tenant's net produce, and out of this he has to pay
the tax on land. Labor-saving machinery is yet in its
experimental stage.

The Position of Women in Iceland — Address by
SiGRiD E. MagnOsson of Iceland.

I will try to give you a brief, and necessarily a broken,
sketch of the present social conditions of Iceland, a country
almost devoid of all the means by which sunnier countries
have been built up. The land yields no grain of any kind,
no fruit except a few blueberries, no timber but that
thrown upon the coast, no coals. It has no roads, in the
general sense of the word. Bridges are few and far be-
tween, although dangerous rivers in hundreds tumble
headlong in a mighty rush to the sea from the stupendous
masses of inland glaciers. Wheeled vehicles are unknown.
All inland communication is effected in summer by means
of the enduring, sure-footed little ponies ; in winter mostly
on foot.

In consequence of this difficulty of communication, the
education of children and women in the country is very
difficult, and added to this, the people are very poor.

The area of Iceland is forty thousand square miles, and
the population is only seventy thousand. Day schools are
practically impossible in the country, so the instruction of
children takes place at home, and, as a rule, falls to the
mother's lot, in addition to her many other duties. It may
be said, with perfect truth, that the Icelandic mother has
been the universal schoolmistress of the land, at least as
far as girls are concerned. Instruction in reading and
religion is compulsory.

In the autumn the clergyman visits every house in the
parish, for the purpose of examining the children in read-
ing and the catechism, and if he is satisfied with their

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 771

progress he invites the parents or the guardians to send
children of twelve to fourteen years of age to him during
Lent, for further instruction, that is to prepare them for
confirmation. Confirmation is compulsory at the age from
fourteen to sixteen, and by law the priest is forbidden to
confirm a child until it knows the catechism by heart, as
well as the " Lerdomskver," a small book containing the
essence of the Bible, and has made such progress in the art
of reading as to be able to perform the family service with
decency. Here, as a rule, ends a girls education, except
that in some cases a little writing may be added.

For boys a very different provision has been made. A
splendid Latin school or college, an old endowed institu-
tion, is at Reykjavik, where boys and men can enter and
have six or seven years of thorough training by eminent
masters. They are sent to a tutor for one or two years to
prepare for the examinations, which they have to pass
before entering the college. Then there is also a medical
and theological college for men who have passed through
the Latin college. Those who wish to study law, philology
or science, have to go to Copenhagen University for their
studies, after leaving the Latin college, as there is no pro-
vision made for those studies in Iceland. All these institu-
tions are endowed, so that most of the scholars, all who are
in need of help and show themselves worthy of assistance,
receive a stipend.

Although the question of providing education for women
has of late years engrossed much attention, owing to the
poverty of the people and the miserable means of communi-
cation, as already stated, very slight progress has been
achieved. A few private attempts have been made to
establish schools for girls over fourteen years of age, or
after confirmation, but these schools are very narrow in
scope. The girls go there for one or two winters. Hand-
work and household duties are taught, and, of course, this
is better than no education at all for the few who can avail
themselves of it, but it is entirely insufficient. Women who

772 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

live in Reykjavik have comparatively very little difficulty,
as they can get instruction free at the " Kvermaskoli," and
those who can afford to pay for private lessons can easily
obtain them from the college tutors and students.

There is also an excellent children's school at Reykjavik,
for boys and girls from the ages of eight to fourteen, con-
ducted by a very able and excellent master.

I have frequently heard since I came abroad, in both
England and Scandinavia, that women in Iceland were so
well educated that they even spoke Latin ; that they were,
indeed, favored with suffrage. There is not a woman in
Iceland who can speak Latin. The origin of this idea is
that Lord Dufferin, who visited Iceland, said in his book,
^* Letters from High Latitudes,'* that the women in Iceland
had spoken Latin to him. But this distinguished man did
not expect people to take every word literally, and when
he was used as authority for this statement, he said, with
his usual humor, that he had not understood them, so he
supposed it was Latin.

Women have not general suffrage, but they have the
municipal vote. This is, however, rarely used, for they
have not the necessary education or training for making
use of it, and old prejudice and fear of being laughed at
certainly would prevent them from exercising this right
at present. Some years ago a bill was brought to our
** Althing," or Parliament, urging the necessity of higher
education for women. When it came to the Danish gov-
ernment it was so well received that a law was passed
permitting women in Iceland to study at the theological
and medical college with men. But it was stipulated that
they should not receive any appointments, either in the
church or as medical practitioners (doctors are appointed by
the government, and receive a fixed salary), since the law
does not provide any preliminary education for women to
enable them to avail themselves of it.

What is now absolutely needed is a high school or col-
lege for women in Iceland, with the same standard as the

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 773

Latin college for men, where women who wish to take up
university studies can have the same preparatory training
as men. For some years I have been trying to establish a
school for g^rls in Reykjavik, in the country, and by the
assistance of kind friends in England succeeded so far as
to build a house, and even to start .a school two years ago
with fifteen g^rls, but as only a few could pay the full fee
(about twenty-seven cents a day for everything), and the
others not even half of that sum, my small funds were
exhausted at the end of the first year.

The Position of Women in Syria — Address by Hanna
K. KoRANY OF Syria.

The tide of modem progress is sweeping away in its
mighty flow many of the prejudiced, fanatical ideas con-
ceming woman's sphere in the east. Records of the far-
away past teach us that woman in ancient Syria, Egypt,
and Arabia held a prominent position in art, poetry, music,
and literature. Our Arabic language is rich with feminine
poetry and prose ; and woman's literary products, though
less in quantity than man's, are, I am proud to say, equal in
quality. The present educated woman is striving to bring
back the happy, prosperous times, and renew her pur-
suits in all the fields of high attainments with men. Her
position is held higher, and is greatly improved in many
respects these last years. Fifty years ago women who could
read and write their native tongue were ver}'- scarce, and
the fathers and mothers of that period, both ignorant,
shrank with horror from educating their daughters. They
supposed, poor creatures, that a girl who learned to read
and write would use her knowledge in writing love letters
to men, and that she would be utterly ruined as a good,
obedient wife and a good, thrifty housekeeper. It does
seem strange that her office and calling as a mother was of
no consideration, or less considered than her being a house-
keeper.

774 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Oriental women are naturally timid, and shrink from
public notice. The long established customs of the country
which place them in seclusion keep them from asserting
their rights. They live in the shade, contented to be un-
known except to their families and intimate friends. As
a rule they take life easy, and make no effort to change the
order of things. Education is awakening them from their
long slumber, is opening their eyes to the sorrowful condi-
tion of the country, and is stirring them up to shake off
these old monotonous habits and to introduce better ones.
Their work is beginning at home, where every improve-
ment should begin, and they are now more able to fill the
office of wife and mother, and better fitted to become the
companions of educated men. Their advantages are far be-
hind the advantages of the European and American women,
but still you find many who are intelligent, intellectual,
and refined. The oriental woman is naturally, notwith-
standing what Mark Twain said, beautiful, modest, and
sensible. All she needs to raise her to the plane of her
western sisters is a good liberal education, which she is
now partly enjoying.

The orientals have been cured of many conservative,
prejudiced ideas concerning woman's sphere, and have
come to acknowledge that in order to uplift and elevate
humanity, woman, the mother, should be well educated.
We have several schools for girls, both foreign and native,
and these schools are crowded with students. The educa-
tion in these schools is what might be classed as elementary ;
the girls are instructed practically, instead of in science and
letters. They study their own language, one or two for-
eign languages, elementary geography, mathematics, and
science. But every woman, no matter how ignorant, how
learned, how rich, or how poor, consecrates herself to the
home and its requirements, and exerts her energies to make
it pleasant and beautiful. Women doctors, lawyers, clerks,
newspaper reporters, presidents of institutions, and the like
are yet unknown to the country. Rich, leisurely women, as

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 775

a rule, occupy their time in presiding over their household
duties, meeting the demands of society, and making their
toilet. It is usually the lot of the poor who are thrown
upon their resources, or the mission of the few energetic,
aspiring women, to face the public and carry out their diff-
erent projects. In such cases as the former, when poverty
stares them in the face they help their husbands in all farm
work, and go about the city selling flowers and fruits, and
some of them resort to the various branches of needlework,
and earn livelihoods by the beautiful embroideries they
make.

When I was traveling in Mount Lebanon last summer, I
was struck with the contentment and simplicity of poor
hard-working women, whose lives are a perpetual strife, a
daily combat with poverty, yet who in their innocent hearts
do not realize its bitterness and hardships ; they take it as a
matter of course, and never stop to argue with fate.

Such hard-working women, placed often in the remotest
parts of the country, where modern improvement does not
penetrate, where discontent, which is to me the strongest
stimulant to progress, does not try to break the sad monot-
ony of their lives, are less to be pitied than those who are
starving for knowledge and can not easily get it.

As for those who are not driven by poverty to exertion,
the government does not encourage their advancement, and
the public regards them with prejudice and suspicion, op-
poses their objects and mercilessly criticizes all their efforts
to be of any consequence in the world. Our present sultan,
his majesty Abd-ul-Hamid, has recently established several
schools for girls in different parts of the country, and
although education in these schools is limited, yet we hope
— we can do nothing but hope — that these schools will grow
in number and efficiency, and lead to a free public education.

Woman's position in society varies with her religion. Ori-
ental society is the reverse of western society ; it is slow and
monotonous. Religion governs our society, and while the
Christian community is improving by European influence,

776 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the Mohammedans will long continue to exile women from
their circles, and for this reason progress among them is
much slower than among the Christians. Social gatherings,
on the whole, are very few ; they consist mostly of dinner
parties, card companies, home concerts, and weddings.
Public receptions, lectures, literary organizations, and pleas-
ure clubs are unknown ; but balls and soirees, k la mode, are
beginning among our communities. They are not consid-
ered the right thing, and justly so, for the country needs
intellectual entertainment and not dancing. The seclusion
of the houris of the harem casts a shadow of dullness
and reserve on the social intercourse of the Mohammedans.
It is a great mistake to suppose that the Mohammedan
women are unhappy because of their seclusion ; they are not,
and would not wish it otherwise, and they have many
occasions to which they look forward with ardent pleasure.
Religious feasts, wedding ceremonies, and boys' birthdays
are great events in their lives. The house that has been
quiet for months bursts forth as if by magic with oriental
music and singing, and the marble halls and the receiving
apartments of the harem are crowded with beautiful faces and
willowy forms, adorned with precious gems and dressed in
purple and gold. Coffee, sherbet, and choice unintoxicating
oriental drinks are then served. The whole scene is enchant-
ing, brilliant, happy, and joyous ; and the Moslem women
take great pleasure in these occasions. Notwithstanding all
the religious restrictions, the innocent, simple occupants of
the harem are peeping from out the veil to catch a glimpse
of modem enlightenment, and many of the inmates are well
educated and devote much time to literary pursuits.

There is no doubt that in the future Moslem men, missing
the charm and refinement of feminine society, and cured
of many old ideas, will thrust back the thick veil of seclusion
and lead woman to take possession of her place as the equal
companion of man.

Writers have, all of them, misrepresented the oriental
woman in their sketches — her sphere, her capabilities, and

THE SOLIDARITY OF HUMAN INTERESTS. 777

her person. Foreigners who travel in our country for two
or three weeks, or a month, come in contact only with the
lowest class, and consequently their opinion about our
women is not reliable. The general condition of women is
not so favorable as in Europe or America, but it can not
be classed as pitiable. Many of them rule as queens, and
are loved, revered, and respected by their husbands and
children.

Americans, who are enjoying the advantages of independ-
ence, freedom, and equality, can not readily comprehend
the many obstacles that stand in the way of the oriental
woman's progress. What she has achieved so far, though
very little, promises far greater achievements in the future.
Although she has not yet learned that unity is power, and
therefore no great movement can be carried out by organ-
ized bodies, yet by concentrated effort she has lately estab-
lished a native school for girls, supported by her funds and
directed by her intellect. Of course, this is no great thing
in America, but in Syria this means a great deal ; it means
that the women have come to see the necessity of education,
and the need of native schools, and that above all these
they recognize the individual responsibility to work for
the uplifting of the masses.

CHAPTER XII.— EDUCATION AND LITERATURE,

AS PRESENTED IN THE SUBORDINATE CONGRESSES.

Editorial Comment — Abstract of an Address Delivered in the Depart-
ment Congress of the International Kindergarten Union, by Sarah
A. Stewart — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Depart-
ment Congress OF THE Association of Collegiate Alumn/e, by Marion
Talbot — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Department
Congress of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, by Lucilia
W. Learned — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Depart-
ment Congress of the National Women's Relief Society, by Emme-
line B. Wells — Abstracts of Papers Presented in the Report
Congresses, by Laura Kieler, Belle Grant Armstrong, and John
Strange Winter (Henrietta E. V. Stannard).

WITH the preceding chapter the report of the Gen-
eral Congress is closed. The remainder of this
volume will be devoted to reports and addresses
delivered in the subordinate congresses. Without these,
the General Congress is to a degree unintelligible ; for it
is in these smaller congresses that one finds the springs
from which the General Congress was fed. As all of the
papers delivered in the latter could be classified broadly
under a few heads, so all those given in the former can be
brought under the same general divisions.

The degree to which the education of the American
people is committed to women is indicated by the addresses
given in the Kindergarten Congress. The opportunities
for the higher education, the degree to which such oppor-
tunities are used, the conscientious application by college
women of their developed powers to practical problems,
and the sense of responsibility resulting from college train-
ing are admirably demonstrated by the address of Miss

(778)

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 779

Marion Talbot, concerning the Association of Collegiate
Alumnae. That the intellectual aspiration which character-
izes young women of the higher circles in the United States
to-day is by no means limited to any class or any country, is
shown in the admirable papers relating to the education of
women in Sweden, Germany, and in New South Wales,
which were read in the Congress. The club, popularly
known as a post-graduate school, is classified with other
educational forces ; and as the press is merely the platform
from which public teachers can address the largest num-
bers of pupils and students, the report of a press club finds
also here its proper place. When one realizes the degree
to which the newspaper makes public opinion, and also
considers the degree to which women make newspapers,
one must feel it a public necessity on the one hand that
women shall have every opportunity for education, that
their own opinions may be intelligent; and on the other
hand that they shall be equally with men amenable to law,
that their opinions may be responsible.

The Conference Congresses were, as explained in the
introduction (Volume I), quite informal, but they were
among the most profitable meetings of the week. To indi-
cate the catholicity of spirit with which such congresses
were conducted, and the wealth of material which confer-
ence committees had to draw on, the programme as actually
rendered in the Conference Congress on Education is ap-
pended to the report of the addresses given in the more
formal meetings. — [The Editor.]

The International Kindergarten Union — Address
BY Sarah A. Stewart of Pennsylvania, Secretary
OF THE International Kindergarten Union.

The International Kindergarten Union is now one year
old. It seems fitting that a statement be made of its aims
and purposes, its growth, and its prospects for the future.

780 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

It was organized at Saratoga, in 1892, in the interests of con-
certed action among the friends of the kindergarten cause.
As a beginning, four distinct aims were stated :

1. To gather and disseminate knowledge of the kinder-
garten movement throughout the world.

2. To bring into active co5peration all kindergarten
interests.

3. To promote the establishment of kindergartens.

4. To elevate the kindergartner's standard of profes-
sional training.

As stated in the preliminary circular :

The principles underlpng the kindergarten system are the groundwork
of modem primary education. An intelligent interpretation of the philoso-
phy and method is being presented by many independent workers in
various parts of the world; something like a complete system of primary
education is being slowly evolved from the repeated experiments of these
investigators. Much of value to the world is being lost from the lack of
coordinate effort and some common channel of communication.

The International Kindergarten Union was formed to meet this need.
It seeks to unite in one stream the various kindergarten activities already
existing. Its function is to supplement, not to compete with, to coordinate,
not to supplant, the agencies which are already at work. It combines the
advantages of central council and suggestion with local independence and
control. Its mission is to collect, collate, and disseminate the valuable
knowledge already attained, and to inspire to greater and more intelligent
efforts in the future. It falls naturally into the spirit and method of the
times, which is no longer that of isolated effort, but of concentrated, har-
monious action.

In most of the States the kindergartens are outside of the public school
system, and in the hands of private societies. It is obvious that an Inter-
national Kindergarten Union can deal only with large units. It is hoped
that all of the kindergarten societies in each State, whether public or pri-
vate, will unite to form one State organization for representation in the
International Kindergarten Union. The great advance which has been
made in the growth of kindergartens in the recent past makes it hope-
ful that the time is near when there will be no State without such an
organization.

The International Kindergarten Union is pledged to promote such organ-
izations, and to the establishment of kindergartens. It invites cooperation
from public and private schools, churches, and benevolent societies of
every kind and grade, which have for their object the educational interests
of little children.

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 781

The establishment of a high standard of training for the office of kin-
dergartner has long been felt to be a necessity by those most intimately
connected with the work. It is of first importance that some standard be
reached that shall direct the future action of training schools in the prepa-
ration of teachers. The time is past when " anybody can teach little chil-
dren;'* we are no longer in the experimental stage. No position calls for
more native ability and more thorough training. The kindergartner must
take her place with other trained professional teachers, if she can hope to*
hold her place in the great army of educational progress; she must be able
to see that principles are more than method, spirit more than form, and
organic relations to other departments of education of vital importance ta
success in her own.

It will be the work of the International Kindergarten Union to prepare
an outline of study, to advise its adoption, and to give aid and counsel
whenever they are sought. The executive committee includes the leading
kindergartners of this country and of Europe. Their experience and
knowledge give ample security that wise counsel will be given in all ques-
tions of importance to the cause.

The immediate aim of the International Kindergarten Union for the
coming year will be to prepare a fitting representation of kindergarten
progress at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. This time will
furnish an occasion for an interchange of views and an organization of
forces for future growth unequaled in the history of the yrorld. An inter-
national congress is planned for this time, in which will be discussed ques-
tions of vital importance to the cause by the most eminent kindergartners
of the world. Foreign correspondence « now being held to bring together
products of the system in countries much dlder than our own. It is hoped
that not only finished products may be displayed, in well-graded sequence,
but that practical illustrations of method may be g^ven with the little
children present.

A provisional constitution was adopted, the terms of
which were very simple and very elastic.

Each local center retains complete autonomy, and con-
tinues the activities which were begun before joining the
general union.

So much for what was hoped to be done. Allow me to
make a brief review of what has been done. It was early
discovered that certain important changes must be made in
membership and in dues. At a meeting of the executive
board, held in Chicago in December, it was decided to
recognize only cities as members in the International Kin-
dergarten Union, with the exception of the original charter

61

782 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

members, and that dues for membership should be fixed as
follows :

Each city branch shall pay into the general treasury
twenty-five cents for each of its members.

Sixteen of the leading cities in the United States have
joined the union, and two others are considering the matter.
This means that all the kindergarten societies in each city
have united to form a membership in the International
Kindergarten Union. The cities are the following : Boston,
Philadelphia, Washington, Providence, Wilmington, Albany,
BuflFalo, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleve-
land, St. Louis, Des Moines, San Francisco, Smyrna (Turkey).
These are called city branches of the International Kinder-
garten Union. Indications are given that foreign countries
will also join the union. Most of them have responded
promptly to the invitation to give reports of kindergarten
progress in their countries, and have expressed hearty
sympathy with the movement.

We are asked to answer the question. What is the advan-
tage of an International Kindergarten Union ? Or to put
it in the words which I overheard from one of the members
of our branch, " What am I going to get for my dollar ? "
Let me attempt to sketch briefly what I think one will get
for her dollar; but first, let me say, the same arguments
which can be urged for organization for any purpose can
be urged with equal force for organized effort among kin-
dergartners. The great word of the day is organization,
and the reason for this is because the world has discovered
that more can be done through combined action than
through isolated effort ; moreover, it is beginning to dis-
cover that more can be done through coordination than
through subordination.

But in answer to the question of my timid, short-sighted
little friend : First, then, it is a saving in the three primal
values, energy, time, and money, which represents the first
two, by frequent and complete circulation of the work of
each branch of the union ; each gains from the experience

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 783

of all. Each center is a new field of experiment and dis-
covery ; that which is of value can be published for a
thousand almost as easily as for one. Each valuable ex-
perience in one branch becomes an inspiration and incent-
ive to renewed efforts in another ; an enthusiasm is created
which carries the whole body much farther than isolated
action ever can. There is strength in numbers. The moral
sentiment of a multitude is infinitely more compelling than
the opinions of one.

Again, it meets a need in woman's education which is
paramount to-day ; which is a training in organization, and
power to act together by meeting for united action in the
smaller centers for immediate ends; each will learn to
cooperate with her peers and be led gradually by the most
potent of all methods — experience — to the broader concep-
tion of the larger well-being, and finally, let us hope, to the
highest conception of all the universal good. By the very
force of woman's life her vision is limited to the near neces-
sities which press so heavily upon her, but the day is at
hand when from her isolated position in the family and the
school she will be called to take also the view which links
her with others in working for the general good. What
better way for a kindergartner to learn this all-important
lesson than to begin where she is, with the vital interests
which she has most at heart, and organize to secure their
success? This organized eflFort also may bring her in touch
with the choicest literature of her profession. It is one of
the chief aims of the International Kindergarten Union
to select out of the whole field of literature that which will
bear most directly upon her profession, and mark out
courses of reading for general culture. It is at this point
that the selective intelligence of the whole counts for the
most for the individual. No one has time to read even a
tithe of the mass of literature which is put forth upon the
subject. We want to make a journal of journals, which
will collect and disseminate the products of the best think-
ing of the world in the direction of the child's education,

784 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

and make it possible for every mother, kindergartner, and
teacher to have this journal for one dollar.

Each also will have the published proceedings of all
general meetings, the papers and discussions of live edu-
cational topics by the leaders in this department of thought,
and so keep in touch with the most recent thought and
latest discoveries. Each will have the motive and opportu-
nity to contribute to the general fund her latest and best
thought, and so it becomes a training in writing and literary
skill, and each may feel that she is contributing her mite
toward making a profession of education possible.

By united action the city branches of the International
Kindergarten Union may become real estate owners ; they
can build an educational temple which shall be forever
sacred to the cause of little children, where each society can
meet for social and professional purposes upon common
ground for united action. They can collect in this temple
a library of professional literature for the general use of
all. They may have courses of study that will meet the
needs of all, and command the finest lecture talent in the
field. All this has been done by smaller agencies, and for
lesser ends than ours, and can be done again.

The History, Aims, and Methods of the Association
OF Collegiate ALUMNiE — Address by Marion
Talbot of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Asso-
ciation OF Collegiate ALUMNi«.

There is nothing to be seen in this world like the beauty
of the creation on the enchanted shore of Lake Michigan.
This new power which Americans have developed to
express the ideal and spiritual side of man fills one with
awe and wonder, mingled with thanksgiving that such
forms of beauty and grace can be conceived and perfected
in this new world.

Rapid and wonderful as the development of the artistic

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 785

sense in this country has been, its forerunner has been the
general education of the people — that education which is
neither artistic nor technical, but which is the foundation
upon which the solidity and permanence of our greatest
works, both of art and of utility, must rest. The progress
of education has been the most marked and the most rapid,
happily, where it was the most needed — among the girls and
women of the country. It seems but a span since the
World's Exposition was held in Philadelphia. Even then,
in one of the principal cities of this country — and what
was true of that city was doubtless true of many — so low
was the standard of education that no girl was taught in
any public school any of the elements of the higher learning
save a little Latin. No steps had been taken in 1876 —
none, in fact, had been suggested — to prepare girls, as they
may be prepared to-day, to pass the tests of the higher
scholarship. Neither were they fitted, except in a most
superficial way, to help forward the wonderful scientific
and industrial development of the period. Fortunately,
this defect in the training of girls was not universal in this
country. After arduous eflFort, a few women had fitted
themselves to take the courses of study at Michigan Uni-
versity, Cornell University, Wisconsin University, Vassar
College, and a little later at Boston University, Wellesley
College, and Smith College. Still, the number of these
women was very small. They had in most cases taken
their degrees in order to qualify themselves better as pro-
fessional teachers. But time developed a new class of
college women — women with more or less of competence
and of leisure, who, having been trained while in college
in definite aims, and in habits of constant and persevering
industry, found themselves on graduation cut off by this
training from the power to live on easy terms with women
less systematically educated. The opportunity for acquaint-
ance and cooperation with graduates from other colleges
was necessarily limited. To an active and conscientious
woman these questions soon become pressing — what

786 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

special value had a college training been to her individu-
ally, and how could she best help to forward the aims and
ambitions of other students, as well as to bear that part in
the life of her own community which was her evident
obligation ?

It seemed as if it should be the mission of the college-
bred woman of the latter part of the nineteenth century,
not only to secure for herself the highest intellectual train-
ing, but to make such use of that training as would com-
mend itself to her own conscience, and would satisfy the
claim of a higher civilization that she should have a share
in uplifting the human race.

It was in the mind of Mrs. Emily Talbot of Boston that
this ideal was first evolved into a definite working plan,
under circumstances which should be narrated and become
a part of the history of the association.

As the mother of two college-bred girls she had often
pondered upon these conditions and difficulties opening
before women. One day a young woman was announced
who apologized for presenting herself without introduc-
tion, but, having heard of Mrs. Talbot's interest in college
girls, she had ventured to call to see if she could get sug-
gestions how to obtain a position to tutor a few hours
weekly. Her family were unwilling she should teach in a
school ; in fact, were she strong enough, there was no abso-
lute necessity to do so, but to obtain a small independent
income was her desire, and within her power, if she could
be put on the right path. The situation was carefully exam-
ined by question and answer, and thus was laid open a defi-
nite case of the attainments and ambitions of the modem
type of womanhood, hedged in by the old traditions and
prejudices. In that moment, as by an inspiration, the vision
dawned of constantly increasing numbers of young women,
with similar training and congenial tastes, who by organi-
zation and cooperation might advance educational methods,
encourage girls in more definite aims, support the strug-
gling student, formulate plans for original investigation, as

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 787

well as learn to work together in a common interest, with
method and harmony and a spirit of self-sacrifice.

The vision soon became a spoken thought. Rapidly the
idea was passed on from one to another of the few college
women in Boston, and on November 8, 1881, a little com-
pany gathered in the hospitable halls of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology for the purpose of considering the
advisability of forming an association. There were present
seventeen women, representing eight different colleges. It
may be well to mention their names, especially since the
early interest shown by many of them has grown with time
and proved the source of much of the influence and power
which the association now exercises.

There came from Oberlin College, Anna E. F. Morgan,
'66 ; Ellen A. Hayes, '78 ; Margaret E. Stratton, 78. Vassar
College, Ellen H. Richards, *fo\ Florence M. Cushing,
'74; Alice Hayes, '81. University of Michigan, Lucy C.
Andrews, '76; Alice E. Freeman, '76; Mary O. Marston, 77-
Cornell University, Mary H. Ladd, 75- University of Wis-
consin, Maria M. Dean, '80; Alma J. Frisby, 78. Boston
University, Sarah L. Miner, 77 ; Marion Talbot, *8o. Smith
College, S. Alice Brown, *8i. Wellesley College, Harriet C.
Blake, '80; Edith E. Metcalf, *8o.

In accordance with a notice sent to all alumnae of the
eight colleges thus associated, residing in New England
and New York City, sixty-six women met at Chauncy Hall
School in Boston, on January 14, 1882, and adopted a consti-
tution and elected officers.

At the meeting of the association held on March 11, 1882,
the first after its organization, the president, Mrs. Jennie
Field Bashford, addressed the association and outlined its
work. The records contain the following abstract of her
address : " She said the members have organized in order
better to utilize their privileges in personal education and
to perform their duty in respect to popular education. The
immediate objects of the meeting may properly be the dis-
cussion of topics of common interest, especially those relat-

788 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ing to educational matters, and methods of comparative
education. It was suggested that a bureau of supply be
established, through which members wishing employment
and those seeking educated women to fill responsible posi-
tions might be brought together. Departments may be
formed, devoted to the study ot subjects which are fre-
quently neglected in the ordinary college curriculum; such
as sanitary science and political economy. The interchange
of thought and friendly relations between graduates of dif-
ferent colleges will be most beneficial and helpful."

During the first two years the number of associated
institutions was increased by the addition of the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology, and of Wesleyan, Kansas,
Syracuse, and Northwestern universities. The University
of California was admitted in March, 1886, and Bryn Mawr
College in October, 1890, making the total number up to
the present time fifteen only. The membership has in-
creased to one thousand five hundred and thirty. It is
well to record these facts, for the statement has gone
abroad that the Association of Collegiate Alumnae is
made up of all graduates from the colleges and universi-
ties of the United States which are open to women.
Many institutions besides those united in this association
are doing honorable service in behalf of the education
of women, and it would be as presumptuous for the
association to attempt to represent all the collegiate work
of women as to maintain that its membership list typifies
exceptional intellect or attainment. We know only too
well that many of the women in our colleges have had
but small share in the broadest culture and widest social
privileges of to-day. But the intellectual training which
they have enjoyed gives them an appreciative interest in
all the work of the world, and has placed upon them an
added obligation to use their powers in the faithful fulfill-
ment of the every-day duties of life, even if they can not
aspire to the few places in the roll of honor set aside for
genius.

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 789

The element of variety, which is a peculiar characteristic
in the membership of this association of graduates, is the
source of much enjoyment and satisfaction. The spirit of
loyalty to one's alma mater is not lessened by contact with
representatives from other institutions, but is supplemented
by a broad interest in collegiate work, and a generous
appreciation of efforts made by other colleges.

Members who have had an occasional opportunity to
attend the meetings of the association, and to take some
part in its work, were so impressed with the stimulus com-
ing from organized action that they took measures toward
the formation of local branch associations. The first organi-
zation of this kind was the Washington branch, which was
formally recognized on October 25, 1884. Since that time
the number has rapidly increased, and sixteen branches
are now carrying on effective work.

The delightful relations which exist between the branches
and the parent association, and the spirit of good will which
they show toward each other and the common cause, make
them a strong factor in the influence of the association. The
only law which limits their freedom is that which makes the
requirements for regular membership alike for all. In other
respects they are free to decide for themselves upon lines of
work and methods of administration. Under their auspices
a large number of clubs for graduate study have been formed,
dealing with such subjects as sanitary science, domestic
economy, political science, pedagogics, social science, Latin,
German, Greek, classics, English literature, English, mod-
ern poetry, fiction, general, local, and American history. In
some of these clubs the quality of the work done has been
so high as to receive recognition and be accepted as regular
graduate work by some of our leading universities.

The encouragement of graduate study has not been
limited to the branches. The association itself has from the
outset given special attention to the subject, and many
papers have been read and circulars issued describing in
detail opportunities for advanced study in this country and

790 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

abroad. A peculiarly important result of activities in this
line has been the establishment of fellowships. No work
more far-reaching in its influence can be undertaken than
the maintenance of fellowships. Members must all feel
great pride and pleasure in the fact that they are annually
giving to two women opportunities for advanced study and
research which but a few years ago the wildest fancy could
not have imagined. In 1 889, the Western Association of Col-
legiate Alumnae, which had been organized in Chicago a few
years before, was merged into the Association of Collegiate
Alumnae. It brought with it the noble record of having
sustained two fellowships in the University of Michigan,
which had been held respectively by Miss Ida M. Street
and Miss Arlisle M. Young. The following year a European
fellowship of five hundred dollars was maintained and
awarded to Miss Louisa H. Richardson. So important did
the work seem that the association then decided to support
still another fellowship of the value of three hundred and
fifty dollars for study in an American university. The hold-
ers of the European fellowships since Miss Richardson
have been Miss Ruth Gentry and Miss Alice Walton, and
of the American fellowship Miss Alice Carter and Miss
Susan B. Franklin. A partial fellowship has also been
awarded to Miss Julia W. Snow. The record seems small.
Its importance, not to the women only who directly share
its ' privileges, but to womankind everywhere, is unbounded.
It is impossible to make too strong an appeal to every mem-
ber to see that the work is loyally sustained and enlarged
during the years that are to come.

It is significant that, from the outset, the association has
laid special stress on the necessity of a sound physical basis
for mental growth. The first paper presented before it was
on " Physical Education," and its first work was the publi-
cation of a circular tabulating the work done in physical
education by the nine institutions then represented in the
association. It pointed out deficiencies in their systems,
and made suggestions, first, to parents ; second, to govern-

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 791

ing bodies which grant degrees to women; and third, to
women studying in those institutions. It is gratifying to
note that some of the defects existing at that time have
since been remedied, as may be seen from the tables pre-
pared for the exhibit of the association in the Department
of Liberal Arts of the World's Fair. The most important
work, however, in this direction has been the investigation
of the effect of college training on the health of women.
The method employed was to send circulars to the women
graduates of the colleges and universities belonging to the
association. These circulars demanded specific answers to
a long list of questions with regard to the health of each
graduate before, during, and after college life. The ques-
tions were prepared with great care, and were heartily
indorsed by physicians and other experts. Thirteen hun-
dred and fifty circulars were distributed, and over seven
hundred were returned — a large proportion, according to
the testimony of statisticians. The information thus
obtained with care was tabulated by the Massachusetts
Bureau of Statistics of Labor, and strict impartiality in the
conclusions drawn was in this way secured. The untiring
zeal of the committee, under the able direction of the chair-
man, Miss Annie G. Howes, was the means by which a
valuable and difficult piece of work was accomplished,
whose interest and significance seem to increase as time
passes. All friends of the better education of women
rejoice that the tendency of the testimony was that system-
atic mental training helps, not hinders, bodily health.

The statistics showed that the conditions of life during
childhood and the years just preceding college life have
an important influence. The association has therefore
devoted considerable time to the consideration of the gen-
eral subject of health. Various aspects have been discussed
in papers on " Physical Training in Preparatory Schools,
with Special Reference to Habits of Sleep and the Relation
of Diet to School Life," " Physical Training as a Factor in
Liberal Education," "The Effect of the Amusements and

792 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Occupations of Girls on their School Life," " The Study of
New Methods of Physical Education at Wellesley College,"
" The Development of Children."

Following close upon the investigation of the health of
women college graduates, came the publication and distri-
bution of a leaflet calling the attention of parents, guardi-
ans, and teachers to some of the chief hindrances to the
development of healthy bodies in school-girls, and suggest-
ing remedies. In connection with this an effort was made
to obtain in a statistical form some definite information in
regard to the life of school-girls 'before entering college.
Although planned with great care, this effort was not fully
carried out. The same may be said of a proposed investi-
gation into the causes which lead girls to abandon the col-
lege course before its completion, with the special purpose
of ascertaining the. eflfects of varying physical conditions
on the mental life, and of seeking to point out those factors
which tend to lessen the benefits of thorough intellectual
training. Many of the preliminary steps have been taken
by the committee in charge of the work, but it is obvious
that a great deal of labor is involved, and much time must
elapse before any definite results of the inquiry can be
made known.

These discussions and investigations made the fact clear
that hand in hand with the study of school-life should go a
similar study of infancy and childhood. Accordingly, in
the fall of 1 890, steps were taken providing for the presen-
tation of a plan by which those members who were inter-
ested could unite in a systematic study of the development
of children, with special reference to securing the best
basis for their later intellectual life. The special commit-
tee has studied the problem with diligence and care, and
has had the active cooperation of eminent specialists. The
schedules for observations on child-life which have been
prepared are now ready for use, and it is extremely desir-
able that as large a number of careful and intelligent
observers as possible should join in the study.

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 793

In January, 1883, a communication was received from
the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of
Women, asking the association to establish a teachers*
registry for college-bred women. After careful deliber-
ation it was decided to be impracticable to carry out the
plan at that time. The members of the association, how-
ever, did not lose sight of the suggestion. The idea, as
developed, has been somewhat modified, as the result of
experience, observation, and discussion. Papers on " Indus-
trial Education," ** Occupations and Professions for College-
bred Women," " Work ' for Women in Local History,"
** Librarianship as a Profession for College-bred Women,"
"Occupations of Women College Graduates," "Sanitary
Work for Women," " Women in Philanthropic Work,"
" The Relation of College Women to Progress in Domestic
Science," " Educated Women as Factors in Industrial Com-
petition," " The Relation of College Women to Social
Need," have shown that many and varied opportunities
for useful employment are open to women. As recently
as the time when the suggestion to establish a teacher's
registry was made, teaching seemed the one occu-
pation open to all women graduates, regardless of their
fitness or ability. The changed condition of aflfairs made
it essential that the association should join in the en-
deavor to elevate the profession of teaching by making
known other occupations to women who feel themselves
unqualified for teaching, but look upon it as their inevitable
vocation. In 1890 the plan of conducting a bureau of
occupations was adopted, and, under the able management
of Miss Eva M. Tappan, much good work has been done,
which may be still further extended in the near future, if
the members should do all in their power to increase its
efficiency and make known its aims.

Papers on " Women's Gifts to Educational Institutions,"
" Endowments and Needs of Women's Colleges," " Work
of Alumni for Their Colleges," " The Idea of the College,"
and " Educational Progress in America," have corroborated

794 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the observation and experience of neariy every member of
the association, and have shown the importance of endeavor-
ing to attract public attention to the financial needs of
American colleges and universities. A glance at the list of
institutions legally termed colleges, which is given in the
report of the bureau of education, is a sufficient proof that
better colleges, not more colleges, are demanded. The
committee on endowment of colleges has the difficult but
important task of representing the association in its desire
to strengthen already existing institutions for women,
and to discourage the establishment of institutions with
inadequate endowment. Their work is one which can and
should be sustained by each and every alumna.

A bureau of collegiate information has been established,
under the direction of Mrs. Kate Morris Cone of Hartford,
Vt. Its aim is to gather information on the various topics
allied to the higher education of women, for the use of
persons making investigations into the different phases of
the subject. There is a great demand for articles which
treat this subject from the point of view of fact rather than
of theory. The cooperation of the members is needed in
supplying the bureau with information of a definite charac-
ter, in order that its usefulness to inquiring correspondents
may be constantly increased. Closely allied with this work
is an attempt to make a complete bibliography of the litera-
ture pertaining to the higher education of women. This
piece of work is nearly complete, largely owing to the assid-
uous labor of Miss E. P. Huntington, and it is very desirable
that its early publication should be secured.

It is interesting to note a movement which, though not
strictly one of the forms of activity carried on by the asso-
ciation, is a direct outgrowth of the spirit and purpose which
has been fostered by the organization of collegiate alumnae.
At one of the meetings held in Washington, a paper was
read by Miss Alia W. Foster, on " The Relation of Women
to the Governing Boards and Faculties of Colleges." No
definite action on the subject was taken, but since that time

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 795

several positions of trust, both on governing boards and
faculties, have been opened to women. Realizing the seri-
ousness of the responsibilities which have been intrusted to
them, the members of this association living in and near Bos-
ton, who are serving as college trustees, have held several
conferences. Five women, representing the governing
boards of four different colleges; have joined in the discus-
sion of such subjects as the organization of boards of trust-
ees, methods of financial administration, the selection and
appointment of teachers, the relation of alumnae trustees
to alumnae associations, and the status of special students.
So much benefit has been derived from the frank and full
discussion of these subjects that this group of women has
been asked to serve as a committee on collegiate adminis-
tration, for the purpose of making still more effective the
influence which this association is striving to wield in
behalf of progress in collegiate education for women.

It must be evident that the aim of the association, viz.,
to unite alumnae of different institutions for practical
educational work, has been attained by simple and direct
methods. Its influence has been quietly but constantly
growing. Among the many convincing proofs that the
existence of the association is justified, are the facts that
its members are exempt from certain examinations at
Oxford University, England; that an appeal has come
from a high official of the government in India to place the
resources of the association at his service in an attempt to
reform their educational system; and that the data and
information we have collected and can command are con-
stantly sought by educational experts.

In seeking for the factor which has accomplished this
result, we find it has been a strict adherence to the funda-
mental principle of the association. The members of the
association, while working as individuals in other organiza-
tions for many and varied objects, are here bound by one
tie ; and great as are the temptations to divert the strength
of this association from its legitimate field, the members

796 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

have refrained from doing so, and by a concentration of
effort, which otherwise might easily be squandered, have
won respect and confidence, which should be jealously
guarded and steadily increased by the faithful loyalty and
personal interest of every woman within its ranks. It is of
course impossible to record the many friendly ties which
have been formed, or the helpfulness of the social relations
between members, but all these circumstances, no less than
more definite intellectual activities, prove the value and
importance of the association.

Henry Drummond has said, " The kingdom of God is a
society of the best men working for the best end, with the
best methods," and he pleads for its realization in the daily
activities of mankind. It is not too much to say that the
aim, the method, and the spirit of the Association of Colle-
giate Alumnae should be in harmony with this thought.

Results of Club Life Among Women Upon the Home;
— Address by Lucilia W. Learned of Missouri.

In judging of any work so new to woman as work in
intellectual clubs still is, it is only fair to regard tendencies
and possibilities as well as actual accomplishment.

By a process of stem experiment through ages of barbar-
ism and centuries of growing civilization, it has come to be
one of the settled convictions of the race that the reciprocal
love of one man and one woman, with equal morality and
equal intelligence for both, makes the best foundation for
that fairest blossom of human life — the home. This is
why Goethe said that monogamy is the highest achieve-
ment of civilization ; it makes possible the home, which is
the source of all private morality and the safegfuard of pub-
lic virtue.

The home is by common consent woman's sphere ; in it
she has a rounded whole of her own. Whatever other
spheres she may rightly enter and fill with her activities,

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 797

here is her first and most important province. The home,
whatever it is, becomes the doom of every child born into
it — makes or mars the happiness of all inmates ; within its
walls civilization is always advancing or declining. I think
it was Balzac who said that when man had civilized all else,
woman would be the last to be civilized by him. If this be
true, it can only be because in that part of his nature most
nearly concerning his relation to woman, man himself
remains longest a savage. But, while freely admitting
that in some departments woman seems to be a lag-
gard in the civilizing process, we do not grant the pre-
mise implied in Balzac's remark, for it is not so much man
that civilizes woman as it is woman that civilizes and edu-
cates man. Who, in the home, receives earliest her love
and care? The new-bom child. Who trains him —
"young savage in his age of flint'' — if not the mother?
So that, when as husband he begins a home of his own,
his wife receives him civilized or barbarous, according as
some woman has made him the one or the other. From
that time forth no growth into higher civilization is pos-
sible that does not come to each in and through that of the
other. Love and equity, those infinite, omnipotent forces,
are the great civilizers that should work in every home.

What does the home need that club-life can give it
through women ?

No one doubts that the average home needs much to
lift it from the plane of matter and physical drudgery;
much to infuse into it a higher element of intellectual and
moral life. It needs other and larger interests than those
relating to provision for the body's comfort and well-being ;
it needs finer pleasures than the ordinary amusements of
society bestow; it requires on the part of the wife, the
mother, the sister, some share in the larger knowledge, the
larger activities, responsibilities, duties, even anxieties, that
develop a noble womanhood. In truth, the woman in the
home needs "all the aliment given to heroic souls to
increase heroism," if she is to train heroes. If woman is to

62

798 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

be an ennobling and intelligent influence in the civilization
of the present day, she must breathe the atmosphere of the
large common life that man has for ages enjoyed. .

Once, whenever a wedding took place, it was ** serfdom
and sovereignty that joined hands in marriage plight,"
and then the family lungs had but one lobe, the family
breathed only through the lord and master, and received
as much vicariously of the outside knowledge as his gen-
erosity and graciousness allowed. Now comes an epoch
which has been styled, with that mild flavor of ridicule
which very good men love at times to use, ** the ladylike
era, when women have it all their own way." True it is
that noble privileges are opening to girls, such as make us
wish (as the French woman said to Chateaubriand) ** that
we could be our own descendants ;" and we are steadily
departing from any ambition to merit both parts of the
Abb6 ChoiseVs saying in praise of the Duchesse de
Fontanges when he called her ** beautiful as an angel and
silly as a goose." Woman is leaving her seclusion, which,
even when lovingly guarded, she has not found enchanting,
and is taking her place side by side with man in the enjoy-
ment of the free air of the uplands of intellectual life.

Nor shall the home with all its intimate and dear rela-
tions suffer thereby. It shall be immensely the gainer.
Think of the gain when, in place of petty aims, small
ambitions for dress and ornament, trifling gossip that con-
sumes heads and hearts, a woman substitutes high purposes,
large themes that awaken thought, that lead to action for
the common good, subjects that take her out of the fogs
and vapors of selfishness, and stir all that is good in mind
and soul ! There is no danger that all this, though it bring
new duties, will develop anything but a higher sense of her
responsibility in the legitimate business of the home.
Where hitherto she may have been a leader in gaiety, in
the dance, in progressive euchre, in all amusements and
frivolity, she fits herself, by good work done in the club,
for leadership in the highest pleasure of life — intelligent

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 799

conversation. In the club she may learn much of the
general aflfairs of the world's life, something of business,
of science, of history, of government, so that she shall not
seem ignorant to her own sons, nor sit a silent and uninter-
ested, because ignorant, listener when men speak of these
important matters.

In our busy and complex modem life men are more and
more engrossed in business. The need is, therefore, greater
for women to see that the conversation in the home does
not either run to " shop " — as the phrase goes — or dwindle
into feeble gossip and uninspiring chat. " We have had
Socrates for conversation in our house for three months,"
said a lady, a member of a club for the study of Greek
and Roman ethics. " Indeed," said a gentleman, " I think
that much better than talk about the prices of vegetables or
the last new thing in gowns.'*

A second need of the home is that women should learn a
spirit of cooperation. If ever the day comes when anything
like cooperative housekeeping is possible — and how much
something of the kind is wanting to relieve the strain of
housework ! — it will be when women have learned by the
apprenticeship of the club to lay aside insistence on non-
essentials— when they have learned a self-surrender that
comes of self -development and harmonious work for com-
mon good. " Not home less, but humanity more." When
the somewhat superficial education begun by the club is
continued so that every club-woman becomes as it were,
a resident student in the university of life, educated by
actual participation in functions of wider scope than the
home affords, free to follow her own instincts of culture
and ease, then woman, no doubt in some respects up to the
present time a "fair barbarian," will learn to suppress the
passion for personal ornament and display that exhausts the
family purse and too often " animalizes the taste." Then her
home will be one into which it will be an honor to be intro-
duced, and to make her acquaintance will be a help to a
liberal education.

800 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Western Women Authors and Journalists — Address
BY Emmeline B. Wells of Utah.

In colonizing a new country, especially one barren and
desolate, one would naturally suppose that there would be
very little poetry in the atmosphere or in the hearts of
the women who had endured all the trials and privations
incident to a journey through an unknown country.
Indeed one would think there would be as a natural con-
sequence a barrenness of ideas; but the grand and lofty
mountains with snowy caps, the almost impassable cailons,
the howling coyotes, the profound and wondrous silence of
the great desert, the dead inland sea, all these gave the
rude materials to both prose writer and poet.

When the emigrants reached the great Salt Lake, when
the dear old flag was unfurled and floated to the breeze for
the first time on Mexican soil from the lofty pinnacle of
Ensign Peak, the heart of the poet-patriot, Eliza R. Snow,
burst into a song that immortalized the glorious and signifi-
cant event.

From that time the spirit of poesy, crude perchance com-
pared with the finished songs and hymns of those whose
lives were cast in more pleasant places, yet rich enough in
rude imagery and true to life in that which touches the
depths of the human soul, flourished. And so it was that
woman made more endurable the lives of scarcity and
privation because the germ of poesy, the divine sympathy
with nature in its wildest, its serenest and most plaintive
moods, found response in the heart of woman, whose
prophetic inspiration wove the stirring and pathetic themes
into song and story. The very wildness and barrenness of
the Rocky Mountain region forced from the lips and pen
of the poet the utterances that urged the people on and
helped them to fulfill the simple duties of every-day life.
The singers were unconsciously interpreting the thoughts
of the weary pilgrims who were opening up a great high-

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 801

way across the American desert to the Golden Gate of the
Pacific Ocean.

As soon as possible in 1850, three years after the arrival
of the pioneers, a newspaper was published, The Deseret
Times ^ and women contributed. to its columns both prose
and verse ; but the idea that a woman's paper should be
established seemed to have a spontaneous origin, and on the
first day of June, 1872, the first copy of the Woman* s Exponent,
a semi-monthly paper, was issued, with Lulu Green Richards,
and afterward Emmeline B. Wells, as editor. This opened a
new avenue for women poets and writers that has developed
much talent through the twenty-one years of its publication.
This was the first woman's paper west of the Mississippi,
except the New North-West y in Portland, Ore., and about
the same time that the Woman s Exponent appeared in
Utah, The Golden Dawn was established in San Francisco.
These three were the pioneer women's papers of the West.

The Exponent has given a fine opportunity for women to
express their views upon all subjects, and has made a record
of charitable, industrial, and professional work among
women in the West, and of current matters and events of
importance that have been invaluable in our woman's work
for the Columbian Exposition.

The poems of Sarah E. Carmichael, one of our Utah girls,
have been so widely celebrated that William CuUen Bryant
selected from her works for his edition of " Poets of
America.** Among the women who have been fortunate
enough to bring out books of prose and verse must be men-
tioned Augusta Joyce Crocheson, who issued " Wild Flowers
of the Desert,** and one book for children. Hannah T.
King, an English woman, published ** Songs of the Heart,**
"Scripture Women,** and an ** Epic Poem.** Other women,
lists of whose books would fill pages, have published books of
their own writings and translations from the German. Of
those who have contributed largely to the newspapers and
magazines in Utah, of which we have a large number, are
Emily Hill Woodmansee, Ellen B. Ferguson, Berley La-

802 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

monte, Josephine Spinner, Annie Wells Cannon, Ellen Gale-
man, Martha A. Y. Greenhalgh, Mary A. Freeze, Ruth M.
Fox, Lillie T. Freeze, and a host of others.

Education of the Swedish Woman — Report by Laura
KiELER OF Sweden.

A deep love of knowledge is a distinguishing feature in
the character of the Swedes. To promote education, larger
sums are sacrificed in Sweden than in other European coun-
tries, in proportion to the insignificant national property of
the country.

The Swedish woman has not manifested less love of
knowledge than is attributed to her nation. She has always
been trying to obtain a degree of knowledge as high as the
customs and the laws of the country allow. Though the
time of the female sex has chiefly been filled up with prac-
tical occupations, several women of learning are mentioned
in our chronicles, and some school education has for cent-
uries been considered necessary for woman. In the middle
of this century claims arose for a higher standard in the
education of women. The national school education has
always been the same for both sexes. The object of the
national schools is to give the rising generation the first
elements of an education. These schools correspond to the
primary and grammar schools here in America. The estab-
lishment of such schools goes as far back as the end of the
sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries.
By the ordinance of June i8, 1842, it was settled that
in each parish there should be at least one school with a
duly approved teacher, and that the attendance should be
compulsory. Between the years of seven and fourteen the
children are said to be in the school age.

The national schools impart instruction in the Swedish
language, religion, writing, arithmetic, geography, Swedish
and general history, geometry, natural history, needlework,

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 803

drawing, singing, and g5manastics. In the upper classes
cookery has begun to be introduced since 1889.

Besides these there are so-called continuation schools,
the object of which is to give, in one or two years, further
instruction to those pupils who, with good testimonials,
have passed the national school, and wish to increase their
knowledge for practical purposes.

Sixty-one per cent of teachers in the national schools are
women. In the country the salary for male and female
teachers is the same. In Stockholm a female teacher has
about two-thirds as much as a male.

Those parents who do not wish to send their daughters to
the national schools, and who want them to get a knowledge
of foreign languages, either send them to the higher girls'
schools, which are entirely private undertakings, or to pri-
vate classes, or else they have them taught at home by
governesses. In our country there exist at the present
moment about one hundred and twenty-four large higher
girls* schools. Connected with most of our girls* schools is
a preparatory school with two or three classes receiving
beginners, generally at six years of age. The higher
school proper has, in the large towns, mostly eight classes,
of one year's duration each. At some schools there exists,
connected with the higher school proper, a so-called con-
tinuation school, having for its object, first, to prepare
for admission to the university ; or second, to prepare for
the training college ; or third, to impart knowledge necessary
for a general education, or else required in practical occu-
pations. The higher schools impart instruction in the same
subjects as the national school, and besides in French, Ger-
man, and English.

Of late great attention has been devoted to the hygienic
conditions of schools. At the larger ones school physicians
are appointed, partly in order to superintend the hygienic
conditions in general, partly to examine the state of health
of the pupils, and judge whether they may be admitted to
gymnastics. The pupils are drilled every day in Ling's

804 CONGRESS OF KEPRESEXTATIVE WOMEN.

gymnastics. The instruction in the girls' schools is chiefly
managed by lady teachers. For the training of female
teachers there are six training colleges, all founded by the
state, and with instruction quite free of cost.

For grown-up girls we have schools called " The People's
High Schools for Women." The pupils of these schools
belong chiefly to the farmer class. There are no entrance
examinations, but as a rule the pupils are presumed to
possess the standard of knowledge imparted in the national
schools. The movement for this kind of school began in
Denmark. The Swedish schools have developed them-
selves, however, independently. The first school for women
of this kind was founded in 1869. Now there are thirteen.
The subjects of study are the Swedish language, history
and geography, free lectures on ethical and religious sub-
jects, hygiene, knowledge of natural science, dairy manage-
ment (the outlines), arithmetic, domestic bookkeeping,
singing, gymnastics, and needlework.

The time of instruction covers the three summer months
of May, June, and July, during which period the homes of
the farmers are considered most able to spare their young
daughters. The school, always being situated in the
country, does not remove them out of their ordinary con-
ditions of life, which remain at school quite as simple as at
home. The people's high school is a home to its pupils — a
large, good, loving home, where the most intimate inter-
course of thought and feeling exists between teachers and
pupils. The country people of the neighborhood enjoy
coming there to refresh themselves from their everj'^-day toil
by listening to the singing and the lectures. In this way
the school becomes the center of its neighborhood. The
country girl, when returning home, carries with her
increased knowledge as well as increased practical abilities,
and in addition a mind opened and made receptive to wider
views.

The superior education of women the state has seen to
by conferring upon women the same rights as upon men

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 8()5

for Studying at the universities. The two universities of
Sweden, that of Upsala and that of Lund, were founded
respectively in 1477 and 1668; from both the female sex was
excluded until the third of June, 1870. Then a writ was
issued conferring upon women the right of passing the
examinations for the university, and of matriculating at
the universities, and of following the profession of a
physician. Since that time the number of female students
has been increasing from year to year. The examination
for the university is passed either in the classical or in the
mathematical division.

The classical division comprises the following compulsory
subjects of examination: Swedish composition, theology,
Latin, French, German, mathematics and physics, history,
geography, botany, and philosophy. Optional subjects are :
Greek, Hebrew, and English; one of these languages is,
however, obligatory. In the mathematical division clas-
sical languages are not studied, but the requirements of
knowledge in the three modern languages, in mathematics
and in physics, are greater than in the classical department;
and besides, chemistry has to be studied. Most of the
women have passed their examinations in the classical
department.

Of the young ladies who have passed the examination
for the university, only about thirty-eight per cent have
matriculated. Some have gone back into private life, and
some have found employment as post, railway, or bank
officials, or else as teachers. The theological faculty in the
university is not open to women. At the faculty of juris-
prudence there are several examinations, out of which the
one for " candidatus juris utriusque " is the principal of
those most commonly taken. This examination has been
passe^d by only one lady, Miss Etta Exchelsson.

The course of study in the medical faculty extends from
seven to nine years from the time of matriculation. Only
two ladies, the Misses Widerstrom and Anderson, have
hitherto finished their medical studies and are practicing as

806 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

physicians, but a considerable number of women are study-
ing medicine. The medical faculty in Stockholm is open
also to ladies, and follows the same rules for the examina^-
tions. The philosophical faculty is divided into a philo-
sophical section and a mathematical-scientific section.

The examinations within both these sections are :

First — Baccalaureate.

Second — Licentiate.

A licentiate, after having written a scientific dissertation
and successfully defended the contents of it against oppo-
nents chosen by the university, is created " Doctor of Phi-
losophy.'* About twenty-three women have passed the
examinations first mentioned, whereas the licentiate has
hitherto been passed by only one woman. Miss Ellen Fries.

The faculty of science of Stockholm, founded in 1878,.
has, like the faculty of philology of Gothenburg, founded
in 1890, from the first opened its lecture halls to women.

Langa Kovalevsky, a well-known Russian mathema-
tician, was for years attached as professor to the former.

The New England Woman's Press Association —
Report by Belle Grant Armstrong of Massa-
chusetts.

The N. E. W. P. A., as we long ago shortened its cumber-
some name to read, was one of the first woman's press asso-
ciations formed in this country after the International
Woman's Press Association had its birth. The rather feeble
life of the latter began in New Orleans when a number of
newspaper women, finding themselves there at the exposi-
tion, had the inspiration to bind themselves into a fraternal
body. If their actual life did not get much beyond the
paper upon which it was recorded, the spirit lived on.

The secretary of this International Press Association of
Women was Mrs. Marion A. McBride of Boston. She was
one of the first newspaper women in the East, and is one of

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 807

the ablest of the guild. She has unusual executive ability,
and this, during the past few years, has been turned to
the propagation of the theories and possible practices of
domestic science. To Mrs. McBride we owe the New Eng-
land Woman's Press Association, or at any rate its founda-
tion. In November, 1885, half a dozen newspaper women
of Boston met at her call in Mrs. Sallie Joy White's room
in the Boston Herald office. Besides Mrs. McBride and Mrs.
White there were present Mrs. Merrill, then Miss Hatch ;
Mrs. Cora Stuart Wheeler, now well-known for her lectures
as well as for her pen work ; Miss Helen M. Winslow, and
Miss Grace W. Soper. From this beginning the associa-
tion, then and there formed, grew into a prosperous body,
and one that is now among the prominent women's organi-
zations of Boston.

To quote from the constitution:

The objects of this association are to promote acquaintance and good
fellowship among newspaper women, to elevate the work and the workers,
and to forward by concerted action through the press such good objects in
social, philanthropic, and reformatory lines as may from time to time
present themselves.

It is but fair to say that, as we have grown older, the
rather conceited notion of our youth as to elevating the
work and the workers, while meant no less now than
formerly, is nevertheless expressed less effusively. In the
revised version of our constitution, now in the hands of a
committee, the aim to elevate is to be read between the
lines instead of upon them. The skeleton of any body is a
mass of dry bones. How clothe them in any manner that
shall properly be labeled a report, and yet hope to give
them interest for you ?

If I could usher you all, as it would give me much pleas-
ure to do, into one of our monthly literary meetings and
high teas, I could imagine, upon occasion, your having a
sufficiently pleasant time to warrant you in feeling that at
any rate the social element of the club is successful.

" The elevation of the work and the workers," was never

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

undertaken upon any definite lines of action. The meetings
have always been planned to be productive of *' sweetness
and light '* for all who attend them, and at this intangible
means of improvement, personal and impersonal, the effort
rests.

A good deal has been done indirectly, and in some cases
directly, ** to forward by concerted action through the press
such good objects in social, philanthropic, and reformatory
lines as from time to time present themselves." To name
but a single instance : It is due to the members of the New
England Press Association, led by Mrs. McBride, and to
Mrs. M. R. Charpiot, the founder of the first home for the
reformation of intemperate women, that matrons were
introduced into the Massachusetts police stations. It is a
compliment to our possible usefulness that rarely is any
public undertaking set on foot without our being invited —
often importuned — as a body to lend our aid to the move-
ment.

During the past three years, instead of holding one meet-
ing a month as formerly, we have held two meetings each
month from October to June, inclusive. On the first Wed-
nesday there is an afternoon session of an hour or two for
business. On the third Wednesday we meet in the after-
noon to hear a paper ; this is followed by a discussion and
an informal reception. High tea, that is practically a din-
ner, follows, and in the evening there is an informal pro-
gramme of music, story-telling, etc. The literary meetings
are in charge of a committee elected annually, each mem-
ber of which is responsible for one monthly meeting.
Without there being any hard and fast rule in the matter,
it is customary to devote one paper to art, another to litera-
ture, one to the home, another to science, etc. Members
have the privilege of inviting guests to the literary meet-
ings and teas by paying the supper assessment out of their
own pockets. We also frequently entertain guests of the
association.

The New England Women's Press Association has no

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 809

headquarters of its own, and maintains none. We hold our
meetings, and have done so for years, in the Parker House,
one of the leading down-town hotels. The matter of hav-
ing club quarters of our ow^n that should be kept open all
the time, as are those of the men's press club, has been
taken under advisement from time to time, but does not
promise soon to bear fruit. The feeling on the part of the
objectors is that women, having many more side issues
to their lives in the way of domestic ties than men have,
have not the time to enjoy a club-house or club-rooms as
men do ; that they have not the time to look after them, etc.

The initiation fee of the New England Woman's Press
Association is three dollars, and the annual assessment
thereafter is two dollars. Supper each month costs one dol-
lar a plate. The association is not self-supporting, and
from time to time money is raised for the treasury by giv-
ing a theatrical matinee by professionals g^ven out of com-
pliment to the association; by a course of lectures under
the auspices of the association, etc. The actual club expenses
for barQ existence would be met undoubtedly by the associa-
tion fees, but extra money is needed from time to time, as for
the contribution we sent to the sufferers by the Johnstown
flood, the fund for the projected home for journalists, etc.
The Ne-w England Woman's Press Association started
with six members in the fall of 1885, increased to thirty
during the first year, and now has one hundred and sev-
enty members. We became an incorporated body under
the laws of the State in the autumn of 1890.

Our membership includes all grades of workers, from the
young reporter whose first assignment may be to write a
stickful about a fair, to women who own and publish their
papers. Perhaps one-third of our members are on the staff
of daily or weekly journals. By this I mean that they give
all or nearly all of their time to the work done by them for
these journals. The balance of the membership is made up
of free lances, who write for different publications, and may
or may not be regular contributors to some one or more

810 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

papers or magazines. In the general run of newspaper
work, outside of regular court and sporting department
work, there is, I think, no phase of newspaper work that is
not represented by some worker among our members. Of
course the majority of newspaperwomen are still doing, for
the most part, either general reporting or special department
work, exclusive of financial, political, and other supposedly
masculine specialties. But the tendency is more and more
to allow w^omen to do anything they can do, and managing
editors are finding out that all women can do something,
and that some women can do pretty nearly everything.

Newspaper women can do some things better than news-
paper men can do them, and some things as well as the
men can do them, and in some respects they are, by reason
of special deficiencies, less valuable than men. Sometimes
a newspaper woman ** beats" a man on his own ground,
as did one member of the New England Woman's Press
Association when she succeeded, by very reason of her
being a woman, in getting certain evidence in a famous
murder case, which men had been sent to get and failed
to find.

I do not defend the present inflated style of journalism
that calls for such work. I refer to the fact as one of inter-
est in placing the value to newspapers of woman's work,
and to show that the profession as represented in the New
England Woman's Press Association is catholic in its
personnel.

The Writer's Club — Report by John Strange Winter
(Henrietta E. V. Stannard) of England.

For some years a great want was felt among women jour-
nalists in London, of some convenient and suitable place
where they could have a foothold of their own, so as to be
able to work, rest, and see papers, meet their publishers or
editors on business, and enjoy in general the advantages

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 811

which a man enjoys at his club. There were vseveral
women's clubs already established in London, but none in
the vicinity of the Strand and Fleet Street, which are the
two great centers of both press and publishing business in
this country.

In September of 1891 a number of women, interested
in various kinds of literature, met together at the offices of
the Incorporated Society of Authors, to consider the feasi-
bility of starting such a club, to be kept strictly in the inter-
ests of women writers, and with a subscription so moderate
that all those who most sorely needed such a haven of rest
might not be debarred from it by reason of too great an
expense. It was then definitely arranged that the club
should be started at the exceedingly modest subscription
of one guinea per year, with an entrance fee of a similar
sum when the number of members should have reached a
given point.

It was also arranged that the members living in the
country, and therefore not likely to frequent the club
as much as the town members, should pay a subscription
of only half a guinea, with an entrance fee of the same
amount.

It is almost needless to say that such a club as this was
not started without considerable opposition, while ridicule
was freely poured out upon the idea. We were told that
women did not need such an institution ; terrible pictures
were drawn of hearths desolated, married happiness ruined,
children shamefully neglected, and other horrors which
would inevitably arise through the formation of this unholy
and wicked thing.

One distinguished woman author wrote, that she did not
consider that women were "clubable" creatures; another
wrote to me saying that if we could secure the very best
men authors she would be pleased to join, forgetting, per-
haps, that the very best men authors might not have been
willing to admit her to their brotherhood, for men in this
country have a way of cheapening the work of women in a

812 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

manner which is anything but flattering to the sex in gen-
eral. Another lady wrote that she did not think women
needed a club of that kind, because she had a private room
at the oflRce of her particular paper, forgetting that there
are thousands — or if not thousands at least some hundreds
— of women who are not so blessed in their daily toil for
bread. In short, all the opposition possible to pour on such
an undertaking was poured out with an unstinting hand
upon the Writers* Club. In spite of this, however, the
founder, Miss Frances Low, kept pluckily to her original
idea, and a good many promises of membership were
booked at the first two meetings; and then the work of
drawing up the rules and of finding premises was pro-
ceeded with in earnest.

Among those who joined us and helped the club along
more than any words of mine can tell, was Lady Jeune,
who gave us much most valuable assistance, and by her
energy, influence, and practical knowledge of the proper
working of such institutions, did for us what the majority
of us could not have done without her.

We finally settled on a floor in Fleet Street, being more
influenced by the convenience of the locality than by the
position and size of the rooms. We were, for one thing,
determined not to start in debt, and, to use an old proverb,
we cut our coat according to our cloth. Therefore, we
took this suite of rooms on the third floor of 190 Fleet
Street, than which no more convenient position could be
found in the entire district. It consists of a large reading
or reception room — what we might call a general room —
wherein members can receive their friends or read in com-
fort. This room is prettily and very comfortably fur-
nished, having three windows overlooking Fleet Street.
Its chairs and lounges are cosy and inviting, its carpets
and hangings soft and subdued in tone, and altogether it
is as homelike and restful a spot as any weary soul could
wish to find herself in. Besides the large room, there is
a very comfortable "silence-room/* where members can

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 813

work in peace ; and here is arranged the beginning of a
reference library for the use of members.

There is also a room for the attendant, a respectable per-
son, who is always in attendance and will procure a meal
for a member at any time. The cooking arrangements, it
is true, as yet, leave much to be desired, as, at first, it had
been settled that all cooking should be done upstairs ; but
owing to the ill-health of the care-taker of the premises
this arrangement fell through, and the committee were
under the necessity of finding an exclusive attendant for
the club, which deprived us of the use — for the members
— of one of our rooms. In addition to these, there is a
good dressing-room and lavatory, so that members living
at a distance from the city can wash and dress in comfort
before going to a theater or other evening engagement, if it
is one not requiring a change of dress. This, in itself, is a
great convenience to many members, who live perhaps ten
or twelve miles out of town, and for whom it would be
impossible to go home for a meal between afternoon work
or engagement and the work or engagement which takes
them to theater, concert, or lecture in the evening. At
their club they can get a meal, which, if not luxurious, is at
least sustaining, and they can make such small additions to
their toilets as they may think necessary, or enjoy the
luxury of freshening themselves up by a wash and a
brushing.

We do not always propose to remain in this very modest
style. We have thoughts of larger quarters,, of a regular
cuisine, of several silence-rooms, and a comfortable dining,
room. But these things can come only with time, as we
are all resolved to make the club strictly self-supporting,
and not in any sense a bolstered-up concern. Of the first
year of the club's existence, I can say that it has been
conducted in absolute harmony, and that the rules and
constitution are found to cover, with the necessity of a
very few slight modifications, all the needs for which the
club was started.

63

814 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

And now I must say something of the usefulness of the
club, and speak also of its social side. As to its great use-
fulness, I can speak with certainty. I know that several
workers have made their way in the thorny path of litera-
ture entirely because of belonging to it. I know of others
who have practically dated their first success from the
lucky day on which they first entered the club premises.
To all, it is distinct advantage to be able to say that they
are members.

The social side is even more encouraging than the busi-
ness one. On each Friday in the year, except during
August and September, there has been a house-tea to which
members can bring their friends. These house-teas have
been most delightful and popular. They are managed
thus : Each member has a season ticket, for which she pays
half a crown, which admits her to the house-teas for one
year. The guest tickets may be bought for three shillings
a dozen, and are available for any Friday, though not trans-
ferable. They must bear the signature of a member.

The te^s are managed in this way : A certain number of
members undertake the duty of providing the sweets and
cake necessary, having a fixed sum sufficient for the pur-
pose handed to them by the honorary secretary, and most
ladies bring one of their own servants with them, and also
one or two young friends who help with the tea, and so
make those who do not know many people feel at home and
welcome. The attendant prepares the tea and coffee, and
also the bread and butter, etc. In this way we find that a
good and varied tea is given, and as those who undertake a
tea all like the task, it falls heavily on no one, and is indeed
a labor of love.

Such a thing as a stranger's going to the Writers' Club on
a house-tea day and being left to mope alone till his or her
host appears is positively unknown. I do not know how it
is, but the general tone of the club is one of extreme
friendliness. I, for one, have made some of my most
delightful friends in the pleasant and homely rooms where

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 816

a few women started an institution for the comfort of the
least well-off in the world of literature, amid the assurances
of most of the women, and practically all of the men, that no
club of that kind could possibly exist for a year. My great
hope is that it may flourish and grow apace, but that we
may never grow so big as. to become either formal or
unfriendly.

CHAPTER XIIL— RELIGION,

AS TREATED IN THE SUBORDINATE CONGRESSES.

Editorial Comment — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Cath-
olic Women's Department Congress, by Mary Josephine Onahan —
Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Department Congress
OF the National Alliance of' Unitarian and Other Liberal Chris-
tian Women, by Mrs. Jenkin Lloyd Jones — Extracts from an
Address Delivered in the Department Congress of the Woman's Cen-
tenary Association of the Universalist Church, by Rev. Lorenza A.
Haynes — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Department
Congress of the Women's Baptist Home Missionary Society, by
Marion E. Isaacs — Extracts from Addresses Delivered in the
Report Congresses, by Mrs. E. S. Strachan, Mrs. O. A. Burgess,
Alice May Scudder, Elizabeth M. Tilley, and Sigrid Storcken-
FELDT — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Department
Congress of the International Committee of the Young Women's
Christian Associations, BY Mrs. William Boyd — Sermon Delivered
IN THE General Congress, by Rev. Anna H. Shaw.

PERHAPS no other single chapter in its history will
better denote the true catholicity of the Congress
than this, which presents the service of women to
religion through the varied means provided by the Roman
Catholic church and the denominations of Protestantism.

The Catholic Women's Department Congress is assigned
the first place from a sense of reverent respect to the
mother church, which the most ultra Protestants should be
the readiest to express, and also from the desire to recog-
nize the peculiar difficulties under which the liberal-minded
Catholics who organized this congress labored. From the
first the committee of organization wished to secure the
cooperation of Catholic women. (It will be understood that
the word Catholic is used here in its restricted sectarian

816)

RELIGION. 817

sense.) But owing to the reciprocal ignorance of one
another's work, which has hitherto distinguished Catholics
and Protestants, the committee did not know to whom
among CathoKcs to appeal for this cooperation ; whom to
invite to speak in the General Congress; or to whom to
suggest the organization of a Catholic department congress.
The committee's ignorance delayed action. It was finally
through the kindness and sympathy of Archbishop Ireland
that the chairman of the committee of organization was
placed in correspondence with Alice Timmons Toomy,
whose response merits equally the gratitude of Catholics
and Protestants.

The paper representing Unitarians and other liberals
follows that representing the Catholics, in order that the
contrast between those who insist upon dogma and those
who repudiate it may be emphasized. This chapter will
show that as much diversity of opinion upon the abstract
side of religion exists among women as among men ; and
that women are equally frank in expressing their opinions.
It will also show that women of all faiths regard the con-
crete expression of religion as the just measure of its sin-
cerity, the accepted test of its substance.

Any one who cherishes the belief that women have a
genius for finance, and that in them, as a class, the execu-
tive faculty preponderates, will find here numerous illustra-
tions of this view. That the impecunious class, the depend-
ents, the "paupers," can raise hundreds of thousands of
dollars annually for religious work, shows that " making
bricks without straw" was by no means an impossible
task. That this class, deficient in business experience as
in pecuniary resources, can manage financial enterprises
which girdle the earth, is a just ground of hope that, with
experience, they may come to "hold their own" in tem-
poral affairs.

The sermon, with which the chapter concludes, was de-
livered in the General Congress, and was indeed (if one
excepts the musical programme prepared by Mrs. Coonley,

818 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

aided by Miss Root, and rendered on the evening of Sunday,
May 2 1 St, see Chapter II, Volume I) the last utterance of the
congress. It seems fitting that a chapter which reveals the
degree to which women have entered already into the
religious work of the world should conclude with Miss
Shaw's inspiring analysis and application of the text, which
the revised version lifts out of dead history, and translating
it into current life, imbues with prophecy. " The women
that publish the tidings," already ** a great host," are becom-
ing an irresistible force. — [The Editor.]

Catholic Women's Part in Philanthropy — Address
BY Mary Josephine Onahan of Illinois.

Philanthropy has been flippantlj' defined as a virtue that
increases with the square of the distance. The word has,
indeed, a grandiose sound. Far better and simpler is that
beautiful word charity. Philanthropy is the creature of the
nineteenth century, that century too much in love with
itself to be genuinely great. Charity is the spirit of God
himself that has breathed through all the ages, transform-
ing weakness into strength, sorrow into rejoicing, sin into
penitence.

To earnest souls there is no skipping the meaning of life.
Either it means everything ; either it is God, and work, and
immortality; or it means nothing — "an ant-hill lost in
space." God and immortality — they are questions which
must often be solved in sorest peril, direst anguish.

God and immortality, all-important facts as they are —
facts upon which hinge all duty arfd all happiness — often,
however, seem to us practical workers in an every-day
world, tinged, even the best of us, by the waves of agnos-
ticism, truths which are too far away to be of daily and
hourly moment to us. The atheist may deny them, the
believer may uphold them ; but however men may differ
on these all-important questions — truths which lie at the

RELIGION- 819

very core and center of life itself — on the third truth they
can not differ — the utility, the necessity of work.

The world no longer asks, "What do you think?" It
asks, '* What do you do?" Not, *'What is your creed?"
but, " What is your practice — your daily life ? Are you
making the world better, and stronger, and braver, and
happier than it was, or are you making it duller, more
besotted, and more ignorant ? " The question is not shirked
by the Catholic church, nor is it shirked by Catholic
womanhood.

Charity knows no sex. The works of women have from
the earliest days gone hand in hand with the works of men.
To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick —
these are duties that present themselves to women as to
men, and women have fulfilled, are still fulfilling, them.

A history of Catholic women in philanthropy would mean
principally, though not entirely, a history of the religious
orders of the church — a subject too high and too broad for
any but the most gifted pen. Even to name these orders
would take much time and research. In the middle ages
for every hillside that had its monastery another was
crowned by a convent. In the fourth century the name of
Monica is wreathed with the memory of Augustine ; the
gentle Umbrian St. Francis had for his spiritual daughter
the blessed Clare. In our own day what need to tell of the
work of women? They are everywhere, these plainly-
garbed, gentle-voiced, energetic workers. In Africa they
are working shoulder to shoulder with the missionary in
the province so dearly loved by the lamented Cardinal
Lavigerie. In Senegambia and Sierra Leone the Holy
Ghost fathers are no move energetic in converting and
baptizing the warriors of the savage tribes than are the
Irish nuns in teaching and civilizing their women and chil-
dren. Indeed, without the co5peration of the nuns many of
the foreign missions would have to be abandoned*, as it is
an unwritten law among many of the savage tribes that no
man, white or black, priest or layman, can enter their

820 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

homes or speak to their women. But the nuns can go
everywhere unmolested.

The work of women in China and Japan and in the islands
of Oceania is too well known to need comment here. The
annals of the propagation of the faith are filled with their
glorious story. They have gone even to the leper colonies,
where might well be written, **A11 hope abandon ye who
enter here." They are devoting their lives to the civilizing,
the Christianizing of the poor Indians, whose treatment by
the United States Government is, indeed, a shame and a
disgrace.

Women have kept step with men in these far-away fields
beneath tropic skies ; they have not been outdone by
them in more civilized lands here at our door. For every
hundred souls that have gone bravely forth for the conver-
sion of the savage, we have, as is fitting, thousands who
are devoting themselves to the reclaiming of their fellow-
creatures here in our midst.

Nor is the work of Catholic women confined to the
religious orders, although the most self-sacrificing are
naturally absorbed by them. The more common work and
sphere of woman in the home, as wife and mother, are
equally, if not more, important. The home is the unit of
society, of the state. Given a nation of well-ordered, virt-
uous, happy homes, and this world would be a Utopia. The
work of woman radiates from that home as from its most
natural as well as from its most universal center.

Whether as nun, as wife, or as mother, whether married
or unmarried, the great fundamental rights and duties of
woman remain the same — to work out the best that is
in her.

The ideal of womanhood has not changed. Man's equal
and man's helpmate she was made ; man's equal and man's
helpmate she must ever be. The ideal that calls to her to-
day called to her also in the past.

Christianity has been sometimes called a religion of pes-
simism, and, in one sense, it doubtless is so ; but in another

RELIGION. 821

and a higher sense no optimism can be greater. '* Vanitas
vanitatum," it says to the riches and pleasures and honors
of this world, and at the touch of that magnet they crumble
into dust ; but though on the one hand it says '' All is
vanity," on the other it says " All is divine." The pagans,
when they wished to confer honor on their heroes, made
them into gods, and Olympus became their dwelling-place ;
but it remained for Christianity to make of the humblest
tiller of the soil, the veriest drawer of water, a child of the
Most High, an inheritor of immortality.

Post Office Missions — Address by Mrs. Jenkin Lloyd
Jones of Illinois.

One of the first, most persistent perplexities that faced
the Western Unitarian Conference, at its very inception,
was, how to reach the isolated ; how to carry our gospel of
love to hearts hungering for it. All over this long, broad
Mississippi Valley were scattered men and women toiling
ceaselessly to found homes and rear families up to the
stature of their high ideals. For this they had left home,
broken old ties, cast aside dear memories and associa-
tions and started out buoyant with hope and faith in the
future of themselves, and of this goodly land so full of
promise.

To touch such lives, to bring them within the electric
circle of its influence, its fellowship, was the conference
problem ; its first attempt at a solution of which was to dis-
trict the whole field as far as practicable. It shall be the
duty of each clergyman or layman to whom a district shall
be intrusted, to ascertain in what places in his district there
are Unitarians residing; how many in each, with their
names ; who among them are willing to act as lay mission-
aries by taking deposits of books and tracts for gratuitous
distribution. This work was pushed and annually reported
for the next ten years ; then all was changed — the rebellion

822 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

must be quelled, emancipation from human bondage pro-
claimed, contrabands provided for and freedmeu protected
and taught. A few of these depositories, however, were at
work still in 1 870.

At the annual meeting in 1854 it was reported, as a result
of this movement, that many books, tracts, sermons,
together with a small volume prepared and published by
the conference, entitled Unitarian VicwSy had been dis-
tributed. The following year the secretary (Rev. A. A.
Livermore) reports : " There come to us daily assurances
that there are multitudes thirsting for our liberal religion,"
that "the demand is for living men and living books."
About this time a colporteur (Peter Betsch) was sent out
by the conference, a man who had studied for the ministry
but was not available in the pulpit, so filled, however, with
missionary zeal and enthusiasm that he was willing to do
any work given him; and most faithfully did our little
German ply his vocation with his peddler's cart of books,
leaving tracts wherever a willing reader was found. But
still the great unchurched were not yet reached. It was
recommended that the subscribers to the Register and
Inquirer pass their papers on when read, and the Monthly
Journal also. A secretary was put into the field who made
his *' headquarters in the saddle," but the ** field " was too
extensive, and much of his time was necessarily taken up
with centers of activity. Besides there were only twenty-
four hours in a day.and night and no more days in a year.

In 1872-4 The Sunday. School was published at Janes-
ville, Wis., the first Sunday-school lesson sheet among Uni-
tarians, and sent with lavish hand to subscribers and others^
the others being the longest list ; hoping thereby to start
home or neighborhood Sunday-schools and Sunday circles.
A few of each were started by this means, as was also quite
an extensive correspondence. Then The Liberal Worker
was issued and The Stinday School turned over to its pages,
that by this combination a still larger constituency might
be aided ; and so they were, but the number needing succor

RELIGION. 823

had still increased and covered a much more extensive
territory.

In 1875 a secretary from "the isolated," wide awake to
their needs and with a burning zeal to help them, was put
into the field. About this time a new convert, with brain
fired with the magnitude and beneficence of our religion,
had been called from orthodoxy to the Third Church,
Chicago. The Chicago Times, ever alert to a wise invest-
ment, published his sermons in its Monday issue, carry-
ing the gospel of " truth, righteousness, and love " into
homes it had never reached before. This new missionary
agent (the Times) brought to Mr. Powell letters of inquiry
from many places.

What was this religion ? Where could they get more ?
etc. These letters forwarded to the secretary increased
the already extensive correspondence materially, as some
of them were from young men in universities, who grew
zealous and aggressive, asking for documents by the fifties
for distribution among their school-fellows. The missionary
needs to be met through the mails had become so imperative
in 1878 that a semi-monthly, called the Pamphlet Missiotiy
designed to be the instrument in forming Sunday circles,
with sermons and services, was started. This afterward
became Unity. In the meantime the correspondence seemed
to increase much more rapidly than the facilities for carry-
ing it on. The sermons published in the secular papers,
and the publication of the Pamphlet Missiotiy awakened fresh
interest in new themes pertaining to religion. Miss F. L.
Roberts was appointed assistant secretary, and the Chicago
women rented and fitted up headquarters for the conference
work and Pamphlet Mission, which had now assumed the more
euphonious title, Unity. In these headquarters, though
crowded and not very inviting, much good work was done ;
the secretary carrying on his work there when not in the
field, Miss Roberts taking up the end of the work now
known as "post office mission work," and looking after

824 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

the interests that came into the office, and the Chicago
women meeting there for work, study, and consultation.

About this time Miss Sallie Ellis entered the missionary
field in Cincinnati, and began that wonderful work she was
enabled to accomplish through her intense devotion and
untiring energy, that work which has aroused so much
enthusiasm and so strong a desire to go and do likewise.
To her consecration and efficiency is due the interest awak-
ened in this work east and west — a work now brought as
nearly to perfection, it would seem, as it well can be.

I think in this little history of the rise and growth of the
post office mission, you will plainly see that it began in a
crude way, away back in the fifties, groping on through
book depositories, tract distributors, colporteurs, missiona-
ries. The Sunday School, the Pamphlet Mission; each giving it
an impetus until it grew so great that it required organized
effort and a band of workers. You see that it is not the
child of women *s conferences, but it was a large factor in
creating these women's organizations. Man wrestled for a
quarter of a century with the problem of " how to reach the
isolated ** ; woman, with her pen, is solving it.

And we must not forget that when the query was first
put postage was expensive and railroads few. The United
States Government and "soulless railroad corporations"
have materially aided in the solution of this our most per-
plexing problem. But it is only being solved. There is
more work to do, more people are to be reached, new phases
of thought, and new wants are awaiting our patience and
efforts.

The material used for this missionary work thirty-five or
forty years ago was almost entirely doctrinal — a vindica-
tion of Unitarianism vs. Trinitarianism.

Later we endeavored to justify our position by publish-
ing and circulating lists of eminent persons who were
of our religious household. Now, however, we have left
the question of our popularity, respectability even, to care
for itself. We have grown into the higher ideal of a living,

RELIGION. 825

working, useful faith — a hoiliely faith that goes straight
to the heart of every man and woman, enkindling fresh
hope and courage to meet life's responsibilities, perplexities,
and privations.

The ideal is truer than the real. We strive for, grow to
the ideal ; we struggle with, grow from the real into the
higher — the ideal. To-day is only the highway to to-mor-
row. To-morrow is our real ; it holds our hopes, our aspira-
tions. To it we look for the realization of our longings.

And our post office mission is to-day what it is because of
this forward-looking tendency, this onward march. Sus-
pended animation savors of death. In healthy life there
must be action. The latest development in reaching the
isolated — I mean the religiously isolated, whether they
dwell in city, hamlet, prairie, or wild wood — is by personal
contact and the living voice. Mrs. Dix has told us of the
work of the New York League and its happy, hopeful
promise. There is a trend along the line in this direction
of lay service work. Already a post office mission recip-
ient has begun this work in Florida, another in Texas, and
Mr. Judy's " Church of the Isolated " is evolving. But this
means more work, not less ; more consecration, more energy,
more faith in far-reaching results.

And thus will come this new gospel — a gospel that
emphasizes the religion of household duties, the sanctity of
cleanliness, the ethics of cooking, the consecration and
devoutness due to parentage, the holy mission of home-
making, the high calling of training the future generation
to holy living ; a religion for the counting-house, for the
farmer and the farm-hand, for the toiler everywhere; a
religion that teaches the sanctity of work and the infidelity
of idleness ; a religion " of the people, by the people, and
for the people."

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The Relation of Young Women to Church Missions
— Address by Rev. Lorenza Haynes of Massa-
chusetts.

•
What relation have young women to the needs and

advantages of church missions? They are an important
factor by the fresh energy they can bring to the work, and
by the earnestness of purpose with which they engage in
what they are interested in. This is well illustrated by their
coming so rapidly to the front in educational, philanthropic,
and religious movements. Young women are related to
Christian missions by the highest, loveliest quality of the
heart — gratitude — which recognizes how much it owes
to the teachings of Christianity. Great as were the bene-
fits which Christ's doctrines brought to men, yet far
greater were those resulting to woman as woman. The
animus of his religion lifted her not only from spiritual
darkness into marvelous light, but from ignorance, ser\a-
tude, and degradation. It has raised her from man's feet to
take her place by his side, so to be his equal, his true help-
mate ; so to advance with him up the steps of knowledge,
and so labor with him in extending Christianity and all the
great philanthropies that are the outcome of it. Women
can not overrate the debt they owe to the teachings of
Jesus. As Christianity is its own best evidence, so what it
has done for woman is the best proof of its claims upon
her. Young women, alert to truth, justice, and gratitude,
must be alive to their relations to church missions. They
are related to this work by the law of heredity. They
are soon to fill the places and do the work of their elders,
and should be ready for apprenticeship before the elders
close their labors. With the onward, upward march of the
world's progress, and with increasing opportunities and
obligations, the young women of to-day must do more and
better work than their predecessors if they would hold even
equal rank. They are required to bear the banner " Ex-

RELIGION. 827

celsior." This must be done not alone to keep the great
moral and spiritual forces in operation, but to fulfill the
essentials of their own development. Life's purpose can
be attained only by living in the likeness of the Father.
Growth into the moral likeness of G^d means growth into
the moral activities of God. The more we work for the
thing we love, the more we love it, and the result is the
soul's enlarged life. The reverse is true. ** An angel's wing
would droop if long at rest." Christianity can not mean
much to a heart that takes no active measures to spread its
blessings. A love of God is increased by a love of our
neighbor, and a right love of our neighbor is increased by
doing something to benefit his spiritual life. The earlier
it is begun the earlier it becomes a habit of heart, and the
character it forms is life's harvest, and all that can be
carried to the great beyond.

One of the chambers in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus at
Rome is called the "Cubiculum of St. Cecilia," in honor
of that Christian woman who was buried here after her
martyrdom, 224 A. D. On the wall of this room is a fresco
of St. Cecilia, a beautiful Roman lady in rich attire and
adornments. Near it is a niche for the lamp which burned
before the shrine. On the back of the shrine is a large
head of Christ, with rays of glory around it in the form of
a Greek cross. It is believed to be the earliest picture of
him in existence. There was a silent, an impressive
eloquence to me in those two faces on the wall, down
among the dark tunneled streets of that city of the dead,
where the grass never grows and the sun never shines.
The sad, gentle countenance of him who died for humanity,
and the lovely face of her who gave her life for his truth,
were a touching reminder of woman in Christ's work.

828 congress of representative women.

Christ on the Avenue — Address by Marion E. Isaacs
OF New York.

A serious question for Christians to consider is, has not
the weight and energy of Christian labor been thrown
almost entirely in favor of reaching and saving those who,
like the people of Christ^s time on earth, were most willing
to hear, and consequently most easily reached ? Has not the
more difficult and stony ground of the wealthy class been
overlooked, and is there not danger of over-concentration
of the work in the direction of the poorer people in the
slums and alleys?

It is true the great middle class, the respectable poor, and
the low down, form much the larger part of the community.
But this wealthy class for which we Christian people have
never made especial effort, is it not time that we bethought
ourselves, and prayerfully considered some means by which
they can be reached ? It can be said of us, " This ought you
to have done and not have left the other undone." When
our hearts are aglow with desire to save souls, do we
remember that one soul is as precious as another in the
sight of our loving Lord ? He would save the ruler just as
quickly as the thief on the cross, did he but show the same
penitence. Can not these nineteenth century Christians
devise some means of reaching the smaller and wealthy
avenue class, the heathen in the brownstone and marble
palaces ?

Our societies are formed with reference to the wants of
every gradation of society, from the dark and loathsome
cellar to the attic, then on through the lanes and highways
— until we reach the avenue ; there the work halts at the
homes of the wealthy, each seeming to vie with the other
in costly magnificence, looking to the casual observer as
if every need was met, every desire gratified within
those stately walls.

Let us then consider the case of the wealthy, and classify
them into three divisions. First, the avenue homes where

RELIGION. 829

Christ reigns and is welcome in the hearts of the owners
and dwellers; whose broad halls and drawing-rooms are
often thrown open to God's people for religious work
of various kinds. These gatherings are among the most
influential and practical helps to draw the thoughtless and
godless of the avenue class to a realization of their respon-
sibility toward their Maker and humanity. These wealthy
and cultured Christians are a power used by God to make
religion attractive and reach those whom Christians in a
humbler sphere have not the opportunity to meet. It is
an all-wise and never-erring God that has placed Christians
in different positions in life, and given to each correspond-
ing responsibility. Out of each and every station of life
he calls his leaders. We have in our great metropolis^
noble, godly men and women from the wealthiest homes^
whose examples in deeds of charity, "and in their conse-
crated lives, give us the highest type of a Christian life.
This class clearly does not trust in riches. They will not
go away sorrowful, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This class does not need our efforts, but we do need
theirs; the world needs them; their neighbors especially
need them.

Two other classes or divisions we would consider, and
it is for them we believe especial effort should be made.
To the first of them, to whom religious observances are a
passport for entrance into the refined circles of their avenue
neighbors, we would give a little thought. To many of
these religion is a beautiful sentimentality. They go to
church on the Sabbath, especially in the morning. They
pay some observance to the Lenten season ; the fashionable
avenue people do that, for it is then the weary bodies and
the excited brains give themselves a little rest from the
round of gaieties that fashionable society imposes upon its
votaries. Now comes the time for the quiet card-party,
and the home dance, and the drawing-room is opened
for entertainments for the poor. These nominal Christians
will sometimes aid you a little in your charities if you call

64

830 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

upon them, and when you commence an explanation of the
charity so dear to your heart, that you have prayed over,
sacrificed for, and finally consented to beg for, you are cut
short by the gift of a pittance, perhaps — to aid in a charity
costing thousands of dollars, and days, months, and years
of prayerful planning and sacrifice ! Oh, how the heart
sinks as you feel the bitter disappointment and failure of
your hopes ! You have all experienced it.

We pass on to the third and last class of the avenue
people, where our dear Lord is not recognized, nor his
name ever mentioned with reverence. These are heedless
and godless people. There is no open immorality; that
would not do, for they are on the avenue. The sacred day,
which in divine wisdom was made for rest, is the chosen
•one for their festivities. The dinner-giving among this
class is largely done on the' Sabbath. It is the favorite
reception-day of the ultra fashionable. In the eagerness
for rapidly accumulated fortunes these people have over-
looked the acquiring of those higher, spiritual qualities that
make truly noble and respected citizens. The strife for
pleasure and distinction, and the bartering of precious
souls for the few brief hours of mortal life, would be ludi-
crous were it not for the serious fact that the grand oppor-
tunity for securing eternal life and uplifting humanity
here is unthought of and utterly ignored. The influence
too upon those around is one of the saddest features.

We have said there are societies formed to reach every
phase and condition except the godless homes of the rich.
We have our Salvation Army for the masses; who will
devise measures equally efficient for reaching the dwellers
on the avenue ? We have admitted that the latter are more
difficult to reach ; but is that any reason why we should not
form some plan and attempt the difficult task ? We have
the parable of the unjust steward, who was commended for
his worldly wisdom; and can not God's stewards use as
much shrewdness and wisdom in spiritual and immortal
interests as the ungodly in worldly matters? It is in the

RELIGION. 831

power of every Christian to be a missionary, and God has
given to every one a mission. There is no one fact that
requires to be pressed upon men and women more emphatic-
ally than this. One of the earliest lessons God taught was
care for others, and that we are our brothers* keepers. As
all have a mission, what is yours ? What is your station in
life ? Are you in some position where you can reach and
influence the godless upon the avenue ? And if so, do you
use your power for good there ? Do you take every oppor-
tunity to uphold the religion of Jesus Christ in whatever
position he has placed you ? Among the lofty or among the
lowly, the gospel is equally needed. Do you adapt yourself,
to the different phases of life and the different characters you
meet? Are you, like Paul, "become all things to all men
for Christ's sake*'? As no two faces are alike in all this
wide world, so no two characters are alike. And each one
you plead with personally will need the adapted word that
the Spirit only can give.

What a fine illustration of quickness to seize the oppor-
tunity to preach Christ is found in Paul's prison life, where
he was chained to a guard. Little chance, we should think,
to spread the story of salvation through Jesus Christ, yet
there was his chance, and grandly did he improve it.
The guard was changed every four hours, so in each twenty-
four hours in the loathsome prison Paul taught Christ to
many Roman soldiers during his long imprisonment. Those
men told the wonderful story to other men, and so it was
carried to the whole Roman guard.

It is seldom that the heart of any woman, whatever her
position in life, is entirely barred against softening influ-
ences. There are channels of sympathy by which the inmost
recesses may be reached. On meeting an ultra fashionable
woman, who apparently thought of little else than her
elegant mansion, her equipage and entertainments, the
conversation turned upon a social scandal concerning one
of the oldest and wealthiest families of the avenue. The
daily papers were filled with the details and painful proofs

832 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

verifying the story. The lady remarked, " They are not so
much to blame, for their entertainments are so sumptuous,
the wines so fine and plentiful, and they indulge so freely,
they cease to be responsible/* What a sad picture ! That
lady well knew what she was describing, for her life was
much among such scenes as she had described. By the
length and freedom of the conversation opportunity was
given to talk of better things. Philanthropic work was
discussed, in which some of the fashionable people were
engaged. This interested her. Next, accounts of religious
works were dilated upon, and the heartfelt satisfaction and
pleasure derived from them was recounted. After listening
attentively, she said, " Tell me more about your work. I
often wish I could do something of the kind. I have time
enough." And truly she had, for she had little to do but
to amuse herself.

We have said that work could be found wherever we were
placed. The magnificent example of a godly woman who
commenced work for Christ among the avenue classes thirty
years ago is cited, by those who knew and loved her, every
day. Her memory is fresh and her work goes on, although
a decade has passed since her living presence was an inspi-
ration to all who came in contact with her. An organized
society of Christian women of all denominations is a living
monument to her memory. This society is so broad in its
scope that it is known all over the Christian world, for its
members may be found in all countries. This beautiful
lady possessed the graces as well as the virtues of a true
Christian woman. Her position called the worldly about
her. She felt that she must maintain her Christian princi-
ples under all these adverse surroundings. She communed
with her Saviour, and he pointed out the way. She took
Christ with her into her avenue life, and was the means of
leading many a thoughtless, fashionable woman of her own
circle up to a higher and better life. There are many mon-
uments to her memory in the form of Christian work and
organized societies. This woman was as clearly selected and

RELIGION. 833

equipped for God's work as any missionary appointed by
our boards. She was a missionary to her own people, and
they rise up and call her blessed.

All missionaries, ministers, colporteurs, and effective
Christian workers of every kind will concur with the remark
of a well-taught graduate of a missionary training-school,
that the longer she worked the stronger her conviction was
that the best work for the Master must be done by personal
effort.

Have you exhausted every means in your power person-
ally to influence the unconverted to accept the truth as it is
in Jesus ? Will you not press home the truth that Christ
will come to judge all, and possibly sooner than we think ?
Should he come to-morrow, would you be ready for him
and be one of the first to welcome him? Have you warned
those friends of yours in those great mansions on the
avenue that Christ is coming ?

Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church,
Canada — Report by Mrs. E. S. Strachan of Canada.

The Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church
of Canada was organized November 8, 1881; hence it is now
nearly twelve years old. It extends from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, being composed of six large branches, which
embrace five hundred auxiliary or local societies, and two
hundred and twenty mission circles and bands; the total
membership being almost nineteen thousand.

The amount raised last year was thirty-five thousand seven
hundred and eighty-nine dollars and ninety cents, and the
total, since organization, in the neighborhood of two hun-
dred thousand dollars, an advance each year of about three
thousand dollars.

This has been raised chiefly by annual fees of one dollar
each, life members' fees of twenty-five dollars, and by the
contributions of young people.

834 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

One special feature of our financial policy is that the '

money is raised one year and distributed the following ; ,

hence in case of special demand or emergency, we can draw
from our own treasury without incurring debt, thus only
lessening the amount to be appropriated at the next annual |

meeting. I

There are no salaried officers in our work, all being ]

volunteers, at the same time being elected by ballot. We i

have now in active service twenty missionaries, Canadian
young women, with three at home on furlough, and more
are needed. Our work is both home and foreign, and we
are striving to teach the gospel to people of four languages,
the French, Indian, Japanese, and Chinese. In the province
of Quebec there is much ignorance and superstition, and
there are many barriers to the reading of God's holy word.

In the city of Montreal our Woman's Missionary Society
shares with the parent. This is also the case in carrying on
the French Institute, which was built a few years ago for
the education of French boys and girls, and where every
season some Roman Catholics receive the truth to the eleva-
tion of their souls. To-day schools are also supported in the
city, besides two Bible meetings of women.

For many years our church has worked among the
Indians, and many have been brought from darkness into
light, but to secure the most far-reaching results, boarding-
schools, where children can be removed from the influences
of camp life, are considered the most effectual method of
forming good. Christian citizens ; hence buildings have
been erected, and two schools for Indian girls are sustained
by our society in British Columbia. In these six teachers
are engaged, and industrial teaching is in contemplation.
From the beginning of our history Japan has had a large
share in our plans and endeavors. Our first representative
was sent in the fall of 1882. A boarding-school, largely
self-supporting, was established at Tokio. During its
second year it had to be enlarged, then another was erected
adjacent to the first, and still more room had to be supplied.

RELIGION. 835

Over one thousand pupils have passed through this school,
and not only have they been taught, but about two hundred
have become professed disciples of the Lord Jesus, and in
the hearts of many others has the truth been received, but
baptism has been delayed, owing to the opposition of
parents. Two other boarding-schools are maintained in
other cities, besides day-schools, Sunday-schools, and Bible
women's meetings.

The King s Daughters . organization has met with great
favor among the Japanese girls, and in many ways they are
actively engaged in giving time, labor, and money to bene-
fit those less favored than themselves by supporting and
visiting a bed in a Christian hospital, by carrying on a day-
school for poor children, making over garments for them,
etc., and also by giving a contribution to send the gospel
to China. The success granted us has been most encourag-
ing, and many of the girls are now able to help our mission-
aries by interpreting for them, at the same time learning
the way to work for others and the joy of it. A few months
since we extended our efforts by sending to China two mis-
sionaries, one a physician, as far as Shanghai, there to wait
for a favorable opportunity to proceed to the province of
Sz-chuen (some eighteen hundred miles inland), where
our church has recently opened a mission.

To return to our own country : In Victoria, B. C, some few
years ago an evil was found to exist, not unknown in this
land of wondrous liberty — that of human beings, our sisters,
though of another language, being sold for a price to bring
gain to their purchasers through a life of infamy — sold with-
out consent; sometimes children of tender years. This
terrible evil, although curtailed, is not yet suppressed.

A Rescue Home was opened a few years since, into which
about twenty have been gathered, who have found not only
food, shelter, and kindness, but education of the mind and
instruction in the knowledge of the one true and loving
God. Ten have been married, most, if not all, to Christian
Chinamen, and have established homes of their own that

836 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

form new centers of light amidst the darkness of their
heathen countrymen. A few have returned to their friends
in China, and nine are now in residence. Who can tell the
results of such a work ?

The Organization and Work of the Christian Woman's
Board of Missions — Report by Mrs. O. A. Burgess
OF Indiana.

The Woman's Missionary Society of the Christian church,
known as the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, which
I have the honor to represent here to-day, had its beginning
eighteen years ago last October. The beginning was small,
with only seventy charter members from six different States,
but the purpose was divine, and slowly but steadily the
society has grown in numbers and influence until now over
thirty thousand women and children are enrolled from
thirty-one States and two Territories. The association was
incorporated under the laws of the State of Indiana in 1883,
with its location in the city of Indianapolis. The objects
of the organization as defined by the constitution are, ** to
maintain preachers and teachers for religious instruction ; to
encourage and cultivate a missionary spirit and missionary
efforts in the churches ; to disseminate missionary intelli-
gence, and to secure systematic contributions for such pur-
poses; also to establish and maintain schools and institu-
tions for the education of both males and females." The
intent at the time of the the organization, as the words
** board of missions" indicate, was to do both home and
foreign work under the same management. As the women
of the Christian church had not at that time been trained to
large activity in church-work and Christian benevolence,
the first need was at home, among ourselves, and in educa-
tional lines. We began forming the women into societies
and the children into mission bands, cultivating a missionary
spirit and practicing systematic giving for missionary pur-

RELIGION. 837

poses. Thus an interest in the fields beyond was developed,
the offerings were increased, and the outlook broadened.
All the societies and bands are auxiliary to the national
board, and we aim to have them in every church. The
growth of the association and the enlargement of its under-
takings depend upon the auxiliaries. Their contributions
to the treasury are as the rivulets to the mighty river, the
source of supply. The work depends upon developing
and utilizing the women of the church, many of whom are
only awaiting the call to service. Like their sisters else-
where, they are sitting with folded hands, not realizing
that there is anything for them to do. Though they are idly
waiting, yet will they gladly hear the voice saying, "Why
stand ye here idle? Go work in my vineyard." This is the
home side of our missionary work.

The last annual report shows over one thousand eight
hundred auxiliaries and bands ; and receipts for the year,
fifty-two thousand three hundred and twenty-seven dollars
and ninety-three cents. By way of comparison, I will men-
tion that our receipts for the first year after organization
were one thousand two hundred dollars and thirty-five
cents, and the grand total for the eighteen years three
hundred and forty-five thousand dollars. The society has a
small endowment fund of twenty thousand dollars, which is
kept loaned on good security, the interest of it going to
heathen fields. This fund is made up of life memberships
and bequests. Such gifts now go into the general fund
and are available for immediate use, unless otherwise
stipulated by the donor. This change has been made
because we think it is better policy to invest in souls than
in first-class real estate mortgages. The interest on such
investments is sure ; there is no discounting it.

So far as I know, the Christian Woman's Board of Mis-
sions is unique, in that the business of the society is man-
aged entirely by women ; the executive committee is
composed of women, and we have our own methods of
organizing the States, and developing our forces, and rais-

838 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ing money for the extension of the work, by gathering it
in mites among the women and children. We select our
mission fields and employ our missionaries, both men and
women, and are in every way responsible for the conduct
of the business of the society. For years we were not
aware that other societies did not proceed in the same way.
As the women of the church become interested in others,
and feel their responsibility in the evangelization of the
world, the society increases in numbers and in ability to
extend its influence ; to enter fields in heathen lands where*
our sisters sit in darkness waiting to hear the story of
Jesus* love, that light and joy may come into their lives.

An association corporate, the society owns its mission
properties, some of them directly and others through a
trustee, where the laws do not admit a title direct.

Our foreign work is on the island of Jamaica and in
India. In Jamaica we have seven ministers, eighteen
stations, and one thousand six hundred members. There
are ten day-schools and seventeen Sunday-schools, with a
total attendance of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-
eight. There are five workers at present in Bilaspur,
India, two of whom are physicians, two teachers, and one
zenana worker, or house-to-house visitor. The buildings
there are a bungalow, school-house, orphanage, and hospital.
These were erected under the direct supervision of our
missionaries, all of whom at that place are women. The
money for the buildings (over eleven thousand dollars)
was raised by the mission bands, and also that for several
chapels in other fields. Nearly four thousand patients were
treated by the two physicians last year, their visits and
attendances numbering about nine thousand. The zenana
worker had many places on her visiting list, some of them
in neighboring villages. The women would crowd around
her, eager to hear what she had to say ; then tell others of
the strange things they had seen and heard, and when she
visited them again new and curious faces would greet her.
There seems to be a strange fascination in the heathen

RELIGION. 839

work for both teacher and people — in the missionary, the
desire innate to help others ; in the people, a reaching out
and longing for something better than they possess. They
are ig^norant, and degraded, and superstitious, it is true, but
there is that within every human heart which responds to
the appeal for a better life. Men are not content to live and
die like the dumb animals about them. We are told that
God made man in his own image, and, marred though that
image may be, it has not been wholly obliterated.

The States of Montana and Colorado are our special field
of operation in the United States, and it would be difficult
to overestimate their importance as a mission field. We
have a Chinese mission at Portland, Ore., where we have
employed Jeu Hawk, a native Chinese, educated in this
country at Drake University, to teach the school and
preach to his people. He gives promise • of doing great
good among his kindred according to the flesh — the
heathen at our door.

At Ann Arbor, Mich., the society built a chapel, and
nearly two years ago started a church and employed a
minister to take charge of it. We consider it both an
important and a promising point on account of its location
at an educational center. A great and influential school,
such as Michigan University, will be the rallying place for
the youth and culture of the land. Our aim is to make a
church home for some of these young people while there.
We have a flourishing school at Hazel Green, Ky., the
Mountain Mission by name. The academy building and
dormitory are the property of the board. Besides the
places mentioned, the society gives assistance at Rochester,
N. Y. ; Duluth, Minn. ; Newport News, Va. ; Sacramento,
Eureka, and Santa Barbara, Cal., and Ogden, Utah.

Last year the disbursements of the society for foreign
missions were thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty
dollars and thirty-eight cents; for our western missions
thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty-five dollars and
sixty cents ; for others of the State missions, twelve thou-

840 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

sand one hundred and eighty-eight dollars and eighty-four
cents ; making a total of thirty-nine thousand six hundred
and sixty-four dollars and eighty-two cents, or in round
numbers, forty thousand dollars. You observe that the
expenditures at home have been nearly two-thirds of the
total receipts.

Our papers, The Missionary Tidings, for the auxiliaries,
and The Little Builders at Work, for bands and junior
societies, are published every month, nine thousand of the
one and five thousand of the other. They contain reports
of the work, letters from workers, and programmes for the
monthly meetings. Both papers are edited by the cor-
responding secretary of the association.

In comparison with the work of older and wealthier
organizations, that of the Christian Woman's Board of
Missions may appear very insignificant, but we must not
despise the day of small things. The time was, and that
not so many years ago, when an organization of women
for any purpose whatever would have been considered an
innovation. We trust that the same spirit that is mov-
ing women everywhere to do something for the advance-
ment of humanity, and especially for the elevation of
Christian womanhood, is guiding us. We bid a God-speed
to sister societies, rejoicing in their success, and join heart
and hand with all who are interested in the winning of the
world to Christ.

Woman's Work in the Society of Christian En-
deavor—Report BY Alice May Scudder of New
Jersey.

No organization intrusted to the church has done more
for the development of women than the Christian En-
deavor Society. Opportunely born, after woman had en-
joyed the rights of higher education, it has been eagerly
captured by those who love not the Pauline prohibition,
and has proved one of woman's strongest allies.

RELIGION. 841

In reporting the work of the Christian Endeavor Society
I shall deal little with figures, which are constantly chang-
ing, and shall speak of the aims and accomplishments
of this mighty organization. The real power of the Chris-
tian Endeavor is found in that portion of the pledge which
reads, " I promise to be present and take some part, aside
from singing, in every meeting, unless prevented by some
reason which I can conscientiously give to my Saviour."
It is this vow which has given more than forty thousand
women the privilege of speaking publicly for their Master.

Christian Endeavor has removed the conventionalities of
the past, and woman may rise to the religious privileges of
her brother. No longer must she sit in silence and hear,
" Thus far shalt thou go and no farther ;" no longer need
she find her highest church attainment in arranging
tableaux and passing ice cream, but rather is she expected
to exert positive spiritual influences.

Another office of Christian Endeavor has been to change
religious theory into practice. Jesus expressed it, " Be ye
doers of the word, not hearers only." Christian Endeavor
would report her women as doers of the word, for in her
societies they are taught practical Christianity. There is
not a phase of religious activity but can be performed under
some of the committees of this noble organization, which is
developing s)niimetrical Christians.

In the Christian Endeavor Society work is done for the
Home Missionary, Foreign Missionary, City Missionary,
Temperance, Life-saving, and a host of other organizations,
and so evenly balanced are all these that one Christian
virtue is not exalted at the expense of another. This focal-
izing of all charities under one society is developing noble
and symmetrical women ; and, as if for a still further broad-
ening, Christian Endeavor has introduced into the church
the new feature of inter-denominational fellowship. We
used to sing about it. and preach about it, and sigh for it,
but not until the Christian Endeavor Society was born did
we realize it.

842 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Over many of our sanctuaries floats a better flag than
Wesley's or Calvin's, for on it is inscribed "Christian
Unity." God grant that neither petty jealousy nor narrow-
mindedness shall ever pull it down !

In an exhaustive article in the New England Magazine of
June, 1892, are written these words: "From the begin-
ning. Mrs. F. E. Clark, the devoted wife of the president
of the United Society, has engaged heart and soul in the
work. It was she who organized the little missionary
society which became the first society of Christian En-
deavor, and it is only fair to give a large share of the
credit to the woman whose influence, though quiet and
unobtrusive, has been so effective." And in this article
I gaze on the picture of the original Mizpah circle, and see
only girlish forms and faces. Had these young women
been too timid to take the pledge, perhaps the Christian
Endeavor Society would have been wanting in our church
history.

Thus we see the mighty influence of woman in this grand
movement ; nor have we mentioned her influence for good
over the masculine members of this society. Previous to the
birth of Christian Endeavor there was a lamentable absence
of young men from our churches, but sincp the mouths of our
maidens have been unstopped, man has been attracted again
to the sanctuary, where, after conversion, he has learned
to give utterance to his religious thoughts. How much
of his development belongs to the persuasiveness of his
Christian Endeavor sister we may not be able to state,
but we do know that his unwillingness to be counted of
less value than the feminine members of his society has
incited him to speak for his Master, and we also know that
many men have become alive to missionary work by having
it presented by women. And how many of those who so
lovingly minister to the outcasts, both at home and abroad,
are from our Christian Endeavor ranks ! It was by keeping
that pledge to take some part in every meeting that the
timid women came out of the shell, and once they came out.

RELIGION. 843

how earnestly have they gone forth until their whole lives
are now g^ven to others in loving service !

And now, in closing this report, I must not fail to speak
of that branch of the work so near my own heart, namely,
woman's part in the religious training of the children in
our Junior Endeavor societies. We have not the exact
number of these noble, self-sacrificing women, who are
mighty fashioners of characters, but we can find them in
every city and town, working away on the children com-
mitted to their care like skilled sculptors chiseling out
Christian men and women.

The Order of King's Daughters and Sons of Canada
— Report by Elizabeth M. Tillev of Canada,
Dominion Secretary.

The order of King's Daughters had been formed only
one year in New York when it was heard of in Canada,
and its broad, loving spirit, showing forth so clearly " Our
duty toward God and our duty toward our neighbor,"
bespoke for it a warm reception.

The first circles were formed in Ontario, New Bruns-
wick, and in British Columbia, in the year 1888. Since
then the order in Canada has attained a membership of
over three thousand, and has spread from Prince Edward
Island on the east to British Columbia on the west. The
silver cross now shines from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

A Dominion secretary, to take general charge of the order
in Canada, was elected at the combined Dominion and
Province of Ontario convention held in Toronto, October,
1 89 1. Provincial secretaries have been appointed for six of
the provinces, viz. : Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

It will be interesting to know the influence of this order
where it has taken root, for after all it is the effect upon
lives and communities that is the test by which we should
seek to judge it.

844 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The badge of the order and the watchword, "In His
Name," have exercised untold influence upon the hearts
and lives of our members. The first signifies to us the
redeeming love of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the second the
scriptural injunction to " Do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus." The effect of the order, when taken into the
churches, has been most stimulating, not only to the work
of the church, but to the lives of the individuals engaged
in the work.

The cause of foreign and home missions has received
earnest attention and aid. Two of the King's Daughters
are now preparing in a Toronto hospital to go to India as
nurses and medical missionaries. Members of circles are
working for missions and supplying both money and cloth-
ing to sustain them in the Northwest, at home, and in
foreign lands. Many members are actively working in the
cause of temperance, and wear the white ribbon as mem-
bers of the W. C. T. U.

The badge of our order exerts great influence. Many
are the instances personally known where a glance at the
shining cross on the breast has restrained from sin.

The leader of a circle of hard-working girls, toiling from
morning until night, told me that one after the other
reported the influence of the little cross in helping her
control her temper and refrain from angry words. It has
led many to acts of unselfishness and little deeds of thought-
ful kindness, that the wearer might be more Christ-like.

The influence has been felt among mothers in govern-
ing their children. One mother said : " I was in the habit of
chastising my children hastily, but since I put on this cross
and have endeavored to do all in His name, it has made me
more patient." Mothers have told of a like effect the cross
and the watchword are having over their children, and the
little ones are growing up under its influence and learning
how to get the victory over self, and to lead useful and
happy lives in ministering to the wants of others.

Some circles unite in doing a large work. For instance,

RELIGION. 846

in St. John, N. B,, they provide a building where working
girls are welcomed and made at home. They have evening
classes for them, with educational and other advantages.
Here you will find the King's Daughters who have had
greater opportunities willing to come and impart knowl-
edge to their less favored sisters. Classes are taught in
arithmetic, writing, music, drawing, stenography, and cut-
ting and fitting dresses. Another enterprise of this King's
Daughters' guild is a day nursery, where, for a few cents,
mothers may leave their children while they go to toil
for their daily living. Noble women have these works in
charge, and are faithfully serving in His name.

In another town, Port Arthur, Ont., where there are
numerous railway accidents among workmen, the King's
Daughters saw these poor fellows being taken to the hospital
in common rough carts, that much increased their suffering.
By voluntary gifts alone they raised six hundred and sev-
enty-five dollars; for six hundred dollars they bought an
ambulance fitted up with every needful appliance, the bal-
ance being reserved for repairs when needed.

I attended the monthly meeting of a large circle of young
girls. It was their custom at the close to spend a few
moments in prayer, in which many offered petitions for dif-
ferent things. My heart was deeply touched when among
them I heard one pray for a notorious criminal lying in jail
and about to suffer the death penalty. Truly it seemed a
blessed thing that their young hearts should take in "all
sorts and conditions of men " as the work laid upon them
for their King and Saviour.

In Toronto a circle has established a boarding home for
young women, known as the Silver Cross House. It is more
like a happy Christian home, and morning and evening the
inmates gather for family prayer. The board is placed at
as low a figure as possible, for all are girls working for their
daily bread or preparing to do so. Other circles in the same
town have worked to establish a night shelter for women,
which has done faithful work.

66

846 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

Enough has been said to show the effect and influence of
the order. We, in Canada, have reason to bless God for it.
Its influence for good is great when conducted on the lines
upon which it was founded, viz.. to develop spiritual life, to
stimulate Christian activity, and ** to hold one*s self respon-
sible to the King, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

The Young Woman's Christian Association in Swe-
den— Report by Sigrid Storckenfeldt of Sweden.

The work among young women in Sweden has continued
a long time, but was not incorporated until the year 1886,
when it assumed the name of the Young Woman's Chris-
tian Association, the headquarters being in Stockholm, with
its branches spread all through the country. Especially
may I mention the one in Gothenburg, where the work is
flourishing under the direction of Miss Beatrix Dickson.

Our work is very similar to that of our sisters in America.
We spend every evening in the week, excepting Saturdays,
instructing these young women in the common branches of
education, also in music, German, English, etc. Sundays
we have Bible classes alternating with missionary services,
instructors being of our most accomplished ladies, who give
their time to this work for the love of their Master.

Another important branch of our work is the young girls*
department, into which we take girls at about the age of
eight years, teaching them sewing once a week, while some
good Christian ladies read with them. As they grow
older they are fully prepared to enter our Young Woman s
Christian Association.

In connection with our work we have also the well-known
Flower Mission. Members of our association visit the hos-
pitals and distribute cards and flowers. Our society is fully
organized, consisting of numerous committees, each one
with its appointed duties. In the manufacturing parts of
our largest cities we have special homes for the working

RELIGION. 847

girls, where meals and rooms can be obtained at reduced
prices. While we help these women in their weary, toil-
some life, and give them words of encouragement and
sympathy, our highest aim is to win their souls for the
Lord Jesus Christ.

I consider it a great honor to have been invited to the
World's Congress of Representative Women, and I can not
at this moment fully express my appreciation of this honor,
nof the pleasure it has given me to say these few words,
knowing that, although we are separated by language and
distance, our hearts are united in this grand, noble work
for the love of our dear Lord and Master.

The Young Women's Christian Association: Its
Aims and Methods — Report by Mrs. William
Boyd of Missourl

Long years before our young women's work took shape,
the Young Men's Christian Associations in their work for
young men were solving our problems, laying down our
sound principles, and fighting many of our battles. To them
we owe our earliest inspirations ; to them we owe the con-
servation of those principles which have made for rapid
and permanent growth ; from them we have received
encouragement, counsel, and moral support in hours of dis-
couragement ; and to them we give the gratitude of all our
workers, expressed in our endeavors to build up a sister
organization in every way worthy its complement. The
inter-collegiate movement of the Young Men's Christian
Association in co-educational institutions made some inde-
pendent form of work for Christian young women in these
institutions a necessity. It is not strange that these associa-
tions should have been modeled on the same plarfas theirs, so
as to become the counterpart of the young men's work in col-
leges. These local college associations realized that greater
strength and inspiration must come through channels of
inter-communication by means of correspondence, publica-

848 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

tions, visitations, and conventions; and in the years 1884^
1885, and 1886 grouped themselves in their various State
organizations. This action the more emphasized the need
for a centralizing and unifying power. SeeJdng in vain
for some older association whose form of organization,
basis of work, and definite aims were such as to promote
the growth and unity of our association ideal, a national
convention was called to meet at Lake Geneva, Wis., in
August, 1886. This convention consisted of representative
delegates from seven State organizations, young women
of disciplined intellectual power, accustomed to cope with
difl&cult problems. They saw, as never before, that the
times were calling for a higher type of strong, thought-
ful, earnest, individual, Christian young womanhood ; that
many forces were leading in contrary directions. Agreeing
that the best results could be accomplished by the young
women themselves, they determined to band together all
over the land with one end in view — the development of the
highest type of Christian womanhood.

The question of a permanent organization gave emphasis
to the following facts :

First, there was in existence no permanent national
organization working on an evangelical basis, and having
for its stated object the development and extension of
associations by and for young women, looking toward their
highest symmetrical development.

Second, the Young Men's Christian Associations were
doing among young men what should be done all over the
land for young women, with slight variations.

Regarding permanency and efficiency of organization as
of vastly greater importance than originality of mere forms,
the National, afterward the International, Young Women's
Christian Association was formed on the same plan as that
of the Young Men's Christian Association.

The basis of all general association work must be the
local organizations ; of these, we have grouped under our
State and international associations two divisions, the city

RELIGION. 849

and the college associations. The aim of both these divi-
sions is the symmetrical development of all young women
who can be brought within their field of labor. Each recog-
nizes that symmetrical development requires effort along
many lines in order to awaken, inspire, and unfold a well-
rounded womanhood. Hence the object of these local asso-
ciations may be stated to be the associating of all young
women together for their highest physical, social, business,
intellectual, and spiritual interests and development.

The city association undertakes this aim in five depart-
ments with their subdivisions. The general affairs of each
local association are directed by a board of managers elected
by and from the active membership of the association. The
active work is planned and executed by committees of
young women appointed from the active membership by
the board of managers. The physical culture committee in
charge of the physical department provides gymnasia, with
scientific, practical, and normal training, a counseling physi-
cian, out-of-door clubs, and all that can promote the widest
opportunities for the development of the physical life of
young women.

The social department is maintained by the work of three
committees; the one on rooms provides reception room,
reading room, parlor and amusement rooms and hall, fur-
nishing them in attractive style for the entertainment and
social life of young women, as well as rooms for the other
departments. The reception committee, daily on duty,
welcomes young women, makes them acquainted with the
objects and plans of the work and the advantages to be
derived from membership ; also arranges for and presides
over members' general and special receptions. The enter-
tainment committee provides a wide range of literary,
musical, and other entertainments.

The business department groups all the business manage-
ment of the organization — executive, finance, and member-
ship committees — with their specific fields of work. There
is an employment bureau, through which business and pro-

860 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

fessional young women may be advanced in their chosen
lines, and a boarding-house directory, through which stu-
dents, business and professional young women may be
directed to suitable homes while away from their own homes.
One of the most promising features of the local associa-
tions is its educational department. Only one young woman
out of each one hundred, or one hundred thousand out of
the twelve millions in our country, enjoy the advantages of
a broad or general education, and of these the majority
come from the smaller cities, towns, and country places.
The association aims to inspire young women of the cities to
seek higher intellectual possibilities, and to provide for all
grades of mental development, from the common English
branches and commercial studies to language, literature,
science, music, and art, with wide provision for the practical
and manual branches. Much stress has been placed upon
the building up of interesting libraries specially adapted to
young women ; upon practical talks on educational lines ;
upon lectures and University Extension courses. The
association makes ample provision for literary, musical, and
other organizations, and encourages and supports all that
tends to a higher type of individual and intellectual life.
In this International Congress of Women we are classified,
and rightly, too, under the religious department. By no
means is ours a work of hand and mind alone, but of heart
and soul. We are more than a religious organization, in
that we are a Christian association doing a definitely evan-
gelistic work among the young women of the colleges and
cities of the land. Young women are banded together in
Bible classes, classified according to previous knowledge
of the Word. There are also evangelistic, new converts',
general and devotional classes open to all, while the workers'
Bible training classes are for the training of Christian young
women in active personal work. Services of song and
prayer, gospel meetings, and personal interviews are the
direct channels through which a large Christian work is
being accomplished.

RELIGION. 861

What of the so-called secular departments ? Permeated
as they are by the presence of true, earnest, Christian young
women, these, while secular in themselves, are avenues of
acquaintance and approach through which the spiritual
department gets a stronghold for direct personal effort.
Such is an outline of the aims of our city associations and
some of their methods of operation.

One can see that with the same aim for college young
women, remembering that the educational and often the
physical features are amply supplied by the college or uni-
versity, we still have a wide field for social and individual
effort. Leaving the question of the responsibility of col-
lege women to Christian work for other presentation, we
must remember that college life with all its possibilities of
development is by no means free from its temptations.
The homesickness of the first days away from home pro-
duces unusual susceptibility to influences good or bad ; the
strangeness of the people and surroundings tends toward
a suppression of the old spontaneous heart life, easily fol-
lowed by indifference and hardness of heart ; the pressure
of college work emphasizes the intellectual life alone, mak-
ing it of highest importance, and tends gradually to substi-
tute general culture for spiritual life and activity. The
multiplicity of college interests invariably produces the
impression that the student has not time for aggressive
Christian work or systematic Bible study; the pendulum
too often swings from the intellectual to the social extreme,
and the young woman leaves college with no adequate idea
of real life and earnest work ; but with a dwarfed spiritual
nature and no immediate training for Christian service, and
with lessened taste therefor. The college association there-
fore supplements the physical life by recreative clubs and
outings, builds up a Christian fraternity or sisterhood, and
a social life which conserves rather than tears down the
highest ideals of womanhood ; it brings the new student,
even before her entrance into the institution, and during
her formative years, into acquaintance with the best Chris-

852 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

tian womanhood of the college ; it groups the Christian
students for thorough Bible study and definite personal
work ; it holds services for the inspiration and expression
of a practical Christian life, and through general and mis-
sionarj' libraries and meetings brings them in touch with
the active interests and work of young women throughout
the world ; its connection with the State and international
associations and student volunteer movements brings stu-
dents, by means of summer schools, conventions, and other
resources for training, in touch with the widest professions
open to women.

The third link in our chain is the State association, con-
sisting of the union 6f these local city and college organi-
zations in the various States, with an executive committee
of management elected by them in their annual convention.
Their object is the promotion of the interests of the
existing associations and assistance in the organization and
development of new associations, with general education
in the objects, method, and growth of the work in their
respective States.

By far the most important agency in the growth and
power of this movement has been, and is, the International
Association. The work of this general organization may be
outlined as follows : First, the collection and classification
of the latest and best information and methods of work
from the entire association field. Second, the compilation
of records, statistics, and historical facts concerning the
growth of the association movement. Third, the dissem-
ination of information to associations and those interested,
or to be interested, by correspondence, which means thou-
sands of letters each year ; by means of publications, includ-
ing The Evangel, published monthly in direct interest of
this cause ; circulars, addresses, pamphlets, reports, instruc-
tions for the use of various officers and committees, and
articles for the general and religious press. Fourth, assist-
ance to local and State associations in the form of secretarial
visitation, anniversary and other meetings, counsel with

RELIGION. 863

boards and committees, and conferences to increase the local
interest. Fifth, the securing, training, and recommenda-
tion of secretaries for local and State fields, with the
employment and direction of an adequate force of travel-
ing, editorial, and office international secretaries, who are
the executives in these vast lines of work. Sixth, a close
study of the principles and methods by which the entire
work may be best conserved, developed, and extended, and
all young women become interested in it. Seventh, a
study of the needs of unorganized territory. Eighth, the
extension of missionary interest and work, through the
student volunteer movement. Ninth, preparing for and
holding biennial conventions. Tenth, organizing and main-
taining annual summer schools and conferences for Bible
study and training of secretaries and volunteer workers,
together with a large share in the development of the
world's association, which, being a union of five national
organizations, is now organized and is counted as the fifth
link in our chain. This work of the international associa-
tion is intrusted, by vote of the biennial convention, to an
executive committee of thirty-three women, a large number
of whom reside at the international headquarters, Chicago,
and hold regular monthly meetings, employing a large and
competent force of executive secretaries, through whom
they are able to accomplish such a far-reaching work with
rapidity and permanency.

Such being an outline of our history, form of organiza-
tion, and general methods, let us pass to the more important
consideration of those limitations and fundamental princi-
ples which we have chosen for our work, which distinguish
us from all other organizations of women and give us a
distinct and independent field.

First. Our efforts are limited to young women as a class.

Second. Our aim is the education and development of all
young women rather than the immediate alleviation or
assistance of any special class. We are trying to reach the
true woman in young women ; and hence, instead of being

854 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

classed as charitable, philanthropic, or reformatory, we are
striving to reach young women whose lives may be multi-
plied, and while interested in all we can not sacrifice the
high development of many to the temporal alleviation of
a few — that work being already done by other organizations.
We hold that by multiplying leaders and developing Chris-
tian workers we can easily solve the other problems also. A
wealthy young woman, a college graduate, recently asked
an association president if the Young Women's Christian
Association reaches the class for whom it was really in-
tended. She received the reply: ** I am afraid not here, for
we have failed to reach you and to induce you to concentrate
your talents and wealth to the work of the Saviour among
the many less favored young women. You could do more
to upbuild young womanhood here than a score who do
not have your education, wealth, and influence." On the
other hand, a bright, intelligent stenographer, becoming
interested in the physical department, took a thorough
course in the gymnasium, was called to another association
as instructor, and now has entered the Chicago University
to prepare herself for thorough scientific physical work
among young women. We strive thus to call out the woman
for Christ and his service, in whatever position or circum-
stances she may be found.

Third. With us the true association idea predominates. In
work which really benefits young women this becomes the
essential living feature. Young women are slow to take
advice, but quick to imitate, influenced more by associations
than by any other element that enters into our lives.
Realizing the force of this principle, we have adopted it as
essential to our highest success, and while we endeavor to
secure the cooperation of the women having years of
experience and judgment in affairs of organization, our
young women bear the responsibilities and do the active
work of the association.

Fourth. The real needs of the young women are the same
all over our land. No one field may be called in truth a

RELIGION. 856

peculiar field. The same general principles of organization
and method apply to all. We have realized, therefore, that
greater economy of effort and more far-reaching results and
more rapid growth has resulted from a uniformity of organi-
zation and work throughout our entire organization. This
makes possible a helpful class of literature ; it renders con-
ventions, correspondence, and visitation practicable; it
enables us to train volunteer workers for more efficient
service, and has created the office of general secretary, and
given her a wide plane of usefulness.

Fifth. Indeed the secretaryship, opening up a profession
for educated, consecrated young women, may well be said
to be a fifth feature which distinguishes our work from
others. While we believe thoroughly in training a large
force of volunteer workers, the personal element in the
local association, the symmetrical development and uni-
formity of the entire work and its growth upon a permanent
basis, in accordance with one lasting principle, depend
almost entirely upon the efficiency of the secretarial forces
in the local, State, and international fields ; while on the
other hand a more desirable or useful professional career
has never been opened to Christian young women than may
be found in this work.

Sixth. Most important of all is our basis of membership,
known as the ** Evangelical Basis," or ** List of Member-
ship." It is evident that just what we mean by this and
its value to our work is not clearly understood by all,
hence a word of definition seems necessary: First — Let
it be understood by all that membership in the Young
Women's Christian Association is open to all young
women of any or no religious beliefs. Second — It must be
remembered that the avowed aim of the association is the
development of all sides of character in young women,
which includes not simply a religious but a spiritual nature.
The founders and maintainers of the association understand
this to mean a character which accords with the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ ; hence we are called a Christian

856 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

association. To maintain this principle the membership
has been divided into two classes, active and associate, the
active consisting of those members who are anxious to
protect this principle and work on these lines, and are found
holding membership in the evangelical churches. With
these rests the voting power and responsibility for the
character and development of the association work ; the
associate membership includes all others who desire to
receive the benefits of the organization, to help in its work
in a general way, and who are striving toward a truer, better
womanhood. This excludes no one who has a real desire
for the association, and still preserves a decided Christian
character to the work beyond the possibility of present or
future change. We are not a church, we advocate no set
creed, but we are the united workers of those churches
which hold to evangelical truth, believing this necessary to
the accomplishment of our fundamental purpose and object ;
and we are dominated by their united representative vote.

We still have before us a study of the possibilities for
future power and usefulness. A review of the past shows
that the association has marched steadily forward with a
phenomenal yet continuous and permanent gro\v^h. Each
new year has more clearly defined our field, and suggested
new and effective methods by which it might be occupied.
Each new year has raised up for and among us a large
force of consecrated women, who are giving their time,
their money, and themselves to the highest interests of
young women ; an increasing secretarial force giving their
entire time to the work of supervision ; a larger number of
friends and supporters; many organizations started spon-
taneously in large and important cities, showing that the
importance and value of the association is rapidly becoming
appreciated ; and, best of all, a grand army of young women
from every avenue of life, marching to victory, calling
upon all young women to join their ranks, bearing aloft the
standard of a perfect, symmetrical womanhood.

What means this for the future ? It means the strongest,

RELIGION. 867

and ptixest, and truest, and best young women of the world,
endeavoring to unite all young women in simple but per-
fect obedience to the power of Almighty God, which union
must produce a power too great to be measured by man's
mind ; a power to be felt in every department of life, the
home, the church, the school, the State, ever growing and
increasing until the ages of eternity roll by, and then
" we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

Sermon Preached by Rev. Anna H. Shaw of Michigan,
IN THE Hall of Washington, on Sunday Morning,
May 2 1 ST.

The services on the morning of Sunday, May 21st, were of
unique character. The entire programme, with the hymns
sung on the occasion, will be found in Chapter II of
Volume L— [The Editor.]

Mrs. May Wright Sewall introduced the presiding minis-
ter thus : It is with solemn joy in our hearts that we open
the services of this morning. It is a matter for congrat-
ulation, suggestive of prophetic hopes, that there are seated
upon the platform this morning eighteen ordained clergy-
women, representing thirteen different denominations of
the Christian church. I take great pleasure in presenting
to you the Rev. Caroline J. Bartlett, pastor of the First
Unitarian Church of Kalamazoo, Mich., who will con-
duct the services.

Rev. Anna H. Shaw said : I will read for our scripture
lesson from the words of Jesus.

" Ye are the light of the world.*' "A city that is set on a
hill can not be hid."

" Neither do men light a candle and put it under a
bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all
that are in the house."

" Let your light so shine before men that they may see

868 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven."

Now I have a little paragraph from the religion of the
far east, from Zoroaster : ** The man who has done good
rather than evil, morally and physically, outwardly and
inwardly, may fearlessly meet death, well assured that
radiant spirits will lead him across into the paradise of
eternal happiness. Souls risen from the grave will know
each other and say, that is my father, or my brother, my
wife, or my sister. The weak will say to the good, where-
fore when I was on the world didst thou not teach me to
know righteousness, O thou pure one ? It is because you
did not instruct me that I am excluded from the assembly
of the blest."

And from Buddhist scripture we have : " There are
treasures laid up in the heart, treasures of charity, piety,
temperance, and soberness. These treasures a man takes
with him beyond death when he leaves this world."

And we have from the Mohammedan scriptures this:
** One hour of justice is worth seventy years of prayer."

And from the Chinese, from Confucius: ** The good man
loves all men. He loves to speak good of others. All
within the four seas are his brothers. Love of man is chief
of all the virtues. The mean man sows that some of his
friends may be helped, but the love of the perfect man is
universal."

And we have from St. Augustine these words : *' I have
read in Plato and Cicero. They are wise and very beauti-
ful, but I never read in either of them, * Come unto me all
ye that are heavy laden.' "

** The multitude that published the tidings were a great
host." In the new version it is changed, both in letter and
in spirit, for instead of being a past word and past revela-
tion, it is an ever present word, an ever present revelation,
and the people who publish the tidings are a new class of
people — they are our people. ** The Lord giveth the word.
The women that publish the tidings are a great host."

RELIGION. 859

The inspirations and aspirations which have been aroused
by this remarkable conference will awaken in our hearts
such thoughts of joy and blessedness that neither time nor
distance shall ever be able to separate it from you until
time shall be lost in eternity ; and your journey up the steep
and rugged heights where truth dwells will ever be made
easier, and at the last be made surer because of our meet-
ings here the last week. The women who have read
various papers, who have discussed the various subjects
which have been before you, have, in the undertone of all
that has been uttered, voiced but one cry, the cry to be
free ; free to be ; free to do ; free to become that which is
best and truest for God's people everywhere. Each has
voiced the heartache and sadness which has come from
woman who, in the past, has endeavored in any line of
activity or research to lift herself or her sisters on a higher
plane of life. Each has felt the cramping, crippling, and
dwarfing power of prejudice and custom. Each has felt
the terrible strain which the endeavor to fight against
these barriers has put upon all the energies of her nature,
and each has given voice to the vision revealed by him
who revealed all truth of the time when the struggle for
freedom shall be over, and when men and women shall live
in that true and nobler atmosphere, in which truth and not
tradition shall be our guide ; the time when each man and
each woman will take as a sublime watchword that which
was to her, one of our old leaders, the very tone of her
entire life : " Truth for authority, and not authority for
truth." In the heartache which has followed this vision, as
the darkness of the ever present has closed about the right,
these women have turned to God, and lifting their eyes
mutely to him have asked : ** O ! thou infinite One, give
me freedom that I may help the world to find Thee." And
then turning to men for guidance, they have asked the
scholar : ** Where shall freedom be found for the race ? "
And the scholar has answered : " The pathway to knowl-
edge is the highway to freedom." But these women have

860 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

known that knowledge is not, and has not been, the power
to free the race, and that many who have been the most
learned have been not only the most oppressed but the
greatest oppressors. Then they have turned to the states-
man, and asked of him where freedom shall be found, and
the statesmen have answered : " The highway to freedom
leads through constitutions and laws. Governments will
ultimately evolve such perfect systems of law that all men
shall be free." But we have known that laws and constitu-
tions have been used as instruments by which men have been
enslaved and oppressed. They have turned to the church,
and asked of the churchmen where freedom was found,
and the churchman pointed to his creeds and to his rites
and ceremonies, saying : ** Believe and you shall be free.*'
But we have known, not so much by our own experience as
by the history of the past, that creeds have been cruel,
ceremonies and rites have enslaved, and that they who are
most bound by the creeds are least free. Then the soul
has turned back again to the vision, and has asked Him
who was able to reveal the future : ** Shall freedom come ? "
And He has answered : " My child, neither in constitutions
and laws, nor in knowledge, nor in creeds, shall you find
the way to freedom, but the truth itself, and the truth alone,
can make men and women free."

Grasping this thought, then, women have gone forth
regardless of custom, regardless of prejudice, regardless
of the reproach of the church, and in the words of him of
old, have cried out : " Is it better to obey the law of man
or to be directed by the spirit of God?" And helped by
this thought these women who have gathered here together
have been out in the world through the years that are
passed, teaching and preaching in all realms of life, and in
all spheres of activity, the truth which shall ultimately
make us all free.

This gathering together of women has taught the world
that women are learning that one lesson which is the
hardest for the human race to know, that lesson of toler-

••I* ••••
•••• • •

• ••

• • •

f •• •

Dr. Makv H. Stilwell. Mks. Lukraixk J. Imtkin.

Laura S. Wilkinson.

E.Mii.Y s. Richards. Marv C. SNEi)r>EN.

RELIGION. 861

ation each for the other. And in our coming together here
there has been aroused a kindlier interest in each other's
work, a kindlier friendship for each other ; and no woman
of us shall go to our homes who does not feel that her
heart throbs in unison with all women everywhere whose
eyes are lifted toward the light ; and we have learned as we
never could have learned in any other way, that lovers of
the law are one. We have learned of the past ; we have
had enough of the creeds. What matters our label so truth
be our aim ? But coming forth from this blessed experi-
ence, we shall each feel that whether the world accepts our
truth now, or whether it shall do so in the years to come, yet
there is in our heart such oneness of sympathy and oneness
of hope, that no woman can ever say truthfully again, " I
am all alone of all the women in the world."

But as we have come together we have realized, perhaps
more than ever before, the obstacles and difficulties which
lie in our way. This has been our love-feast, but it will be
of little value to us if it does not fit us better to go forth to
meet the real experiences of life which shall come to us
when we have laid aside our day of thought and have
entered into life's practical mission. The difficulties which
we have met in the past are still around us, and we shall
find that the world to-day is bound to its own thought as in
the past. One of the greatest obstacles which we shall meet
is the fact that there are certain classes of people gathered
together of a single church, of a single society, who cry
out : " If you are not seeking truth in our way, then it can
not be that you are true, and you are not seeking truth at
all." These are people who are bound to truth by their
limited vision of it, who cry : " My creed, my philosophy,
my work is true, therefore all else is false." But the women
who go forth from this great gathering shall feel that there
can be no great movement to which has gathered any number
of people but that underlying it, and running all through
it, is some deep and profound truth, and that it is only a
barren mind that can look upon any great movement fol-

66

862 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

lowed by any large number of people, and can say it is all
false. This has been the mission of this great congress, and
our women have learned that it has been a high privilege to
search all the great movements presented here, and out of
each one of them to gather a germ of truth, and unite
it with a germ which has be en discovered in another great
movement, until in going forth we shall be bound together
by one great chain, each link a great truth gathered up
out of the world and made our truth. So that we shall go
forth, not as women of individual thought, or an individual
church, but we shall go forth as women in whose souls have
been planted gemio uf many great truths, and we shall be
what was explained to us as the root-thought of the word
Sorosis, yesterday, that great coming together of many
seeds, the result of which shall be the bread of life to the
people of the w^orld.

Not only shall we meet the obstacles which have -always
been in our way, but we shall also find that other great
obstacle which more than any other keeps woman in the
background to-day. Women have always been taught that
self-submission is the highest part of womanly character ;
that they should efface themselves, give up all hope of
education, and all development and growth in themselves,
that another may grow ; we have justified the sacrifices of
a sister in order that she may earn the means by which a
brother shall be educated ; the sacrifices of a wife that she
may help push to the front her husband ; or the sacrifices
of a mother that she may assist her son ; not because there
is any principle in it; not because there is any special
good accomplished ; not because the son, or husband, or
father has any special powder in himself ; but the sacrifice of
the woman for the uplifting of the man seems to be the on'e
thought, regardless of the principle of justice. But the
sequel shows that many women have gone to their graves
broken-hearted to lift up a man who w^as not worthy of
living after he had been lifted ; a man incapable of recogniz-
ing the sacrifice ; a man who did not begin to possess in

RELIGION. 863

himself such possibilities as were in the one that was sac-
rificed. Women will need to revise their table of virtues.
Men have made it for us in the past, but in the future
when we shall revise it we will leave in the table of virtues
self-sacrifice, but we will put by its side self-assertion.
What God needs in humanity to-day is recognition of the
fact that one-half of the divine nature in the world is
clothed in womanhood, and unless womanhood is developed,
one-half of divinity itself is kept from the knowledge of the
peoples of the world. The mission of woman in the pulpit
is not alone to keep alive the fire of the Holy Ghost in the
hearts of men and women in this world, and teach men and
women the truth of the power of God to transform human
life and human character ; but one of the missions of the
woman preacher is to people heaven with the feminine
thought as well as the earth, and the race must be taught
that they can no more be half -orphans in heaven than they
are on earth, and that in the spirit of divine life, in the
spirit of infinite love, in divinity itself, we have the feminine
and the masculine, and God is the eternal parent of us all,
the father and mother of the human soul. And when
heaven shall be re-peopled by the Divine Spirit, which is
the spirit of motherhood as well as fatherhood, oh how the
heart of the human race will gladly sit at the feet of the
mother-heart of God, and be comforted in the woes and
sorrows and heartaches of life!

But the reformers themselves must learn, for it is impos-
sible for any woman to become a real reformer who is not
herself reformed. It is impossible for any human being to
become a teacher who has not first been taught ; impossible
for any to lead and lift, who has not first learned to obey.
^Therefore I may be pardoned if I address some of my
words to my own colleagues this morning and say, no more
can every woman be a reformer than can every woman be
a true and righteous mother, or than can every woman be a
home-maker. God has not endowed all for any one thing,
and those who would themselves become reformers must

864 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

learn that to be a guide and teacher there are certain quali-
fications and certain lessons which must become a part of
our being, or else we are not equipped for our work in the
world ; and that this is the tenter of every reformer's life — a
broad, vigorous, healthful character. No woman is fit to be
a reformer who does not possess strong character. Now,
character is what we are, and no one is nobler and truer
than the character which she forms. Taking this thought
outside of one's self, no life character is greater than the
character of her who has wrought it. A mean mind can
not build a vast life structure. A narrow soul can not
build broadly, or wisely, or well. So if we would become
builders whose building shall remain, if we would become
teachers whose lessons shall abide, then must we become
women of strong character in all of our relationships to the
world and to God. In the building up of the work of the
world there must be a strong character, regardless of what
one's reputation may be, and in order that we shall be pos-
sessed of a strong character three things are essential to us.
First, we must be possessed of moral courage, and that is
the thing to-day which is rarer than anything else — moral
courage. Now, moral and physical courage are very differ-
ent things, and it has been thought that women could not
be possessed of strong characters because they were not
possessed of strong bodies. But moral courage, which is
bom of the soul, moral courage which enables one, regard-
less of his surroundings, to sacrifice anything and every-
thing for truth, that is the first and necessary qualification
for a leader and teacher of men. What the world needs
to-day is great, broad minds, broad enough to reach out and
grasp the truth, and hearts pure enough to receive it, and
souls brave enough to defend it. And could the men and
women of the world who believe the truth to-day and have
minds large enough to grasp it, possess souls brave enough
to stand by it, then would there be no more sacrifices of men
and women on the altar of persecution and ignorance. But
the women who go forth to work in the world to-day must

RELIGION.

be possessed of this strong character whereby they can
stand by the truth thrgugh the moral power which enables
them to face social ostracism, prejudice, and denunciation,
and take their stand by truth, because at the last they only
are victors who are found on the side of truth. Longfellow
has justly said, ** No evil thing can succeed, no good thing
can fail. There is no success save in the triumph of the
truth.** So we who stand by the truth, who are always
standing by that, shall in the end be victors. Nations shall
pass away, generations of rnen shall be bom and die, the
world may even pass into utter oblivion, but the truth, like
the Divine One, is eternal and shall abide evermore.

Not alone must we be possessed of moral courage to
stand by the truth, but we must be possessed of faith in
God to be men and women of strong characters. I do not
stand here this morning to define God to you. I do not
undertake to tell you just how you shall believe in God or
just what your conception of God may be, but no man or
woman can ever be possessed of a strong character and
become a teacher and leader of men, triumphing over
obstacles, confident of victory before the battle has been
begun, who has not faith in an overruling power, who is
ultimately able to guide all things toward that which is
right and pure. Plutarch said long thousand years ago that
he made a search up and down the earth that he might find
a city without a symbol of the man Christ Jesus, but could
never find a city without any symbols or shrines ; and what
was true in the days of Plutarch- is true to-day. In all
this world there is no city or nation the center of whose
life is not God. There is no number of people who have
gathered together for any great purpose who have not
some faith in some power somewhere, upon whom all
others are dependent.

Then not only must a reformer be possessed of moral
courage to stand by what she knows to be true and teach it ;
not only must she be possessed of faith in God, and know
that ultimately she shall see somewhere, at some time, the

866 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

triumph of the truth, but she herself must become uncom-
promisingly obedient to the higher laws of God every-
where. You and I, all men and women of every land or
clime, know that above the laws controlling our physical
and our governmental life there are higher laws controll-
ing our moral and spiritual characters, and it is as natural
for us to turn our faces toward these higher laws as it is for
the face of the heliotrope to turn toward the sun, and a
woman of strong character must evermore keep her face
toward obedience. The men and women of strong charac-
ter then find out what the law of the highest is. You ask,
where do we find it ? I do not know, only in this world it is
to be found, we believe, and it is to be found written
on the hearts and lives of our fellow men and women
everywhere. It is to be found written on the face of nature
everywhere. In all lands and under all conditions God has
never left himself without a witness to all peoples of the
world. Therefore, we may learn the law of God in our
relations in life, in our associations each with the other.
Look into the history of the race, and what will you find ?
You will find that God has placed in the hands of men and
women some wondrous powers, wondrous possibilities.
Some of the great poets of old have had given to them by
God harps that were divinely attuned, and he has asked of
them to sing a song which, when sung, would thrill the
heart of the race and lift it up toward him ; but they have
taken these harps divinely attuned and sunk them in the
dust at the feet of their lusts, and to-day the world mourns
the lost songs everywhere. To every man and woman of
us here God has given a soul, a soul so divinely attuned that
we may hear the very harmonies of heaven ; a soul so
divinely attuned that we may hear the voice of God speak-
ing with us, and be directed by that voice out into a high
and holy plane. So whether that which we believe is true
or not, if we stand by what we believe to be truth, God will
illuminate the path, and we shall by and by know the truth,
if we are true to the bit of truth we all possess now ; for

RELIGION. 867

they who are loyal to truth will find that truth is always
loyal to them ; and they who harken to its divine voice shall
hear it all about them, and know the voice of truth and fol-
low it, and the voice of a stranger will they not follow.

Now then, you ask, what shall be the reward of these who
are thus laboring for the uplifting of truth ? I say : My
sister, be not disheartened. It matters not what your
reward shall be. It matters not how it shall come. Your
reward may not be the great, sweet honor of grateful suc-
cess, but this it shall be — you shall be lifted into a true life,
able to look out without servility, able to look up to God
without fear, and though your truth may not be accepted,
though you yourself may be rejected, though you may die
and yet the world refuse to hear, this is not life*s greatest
sorrow. It is a greater one never to have heard the voice
of truth speaking in the soul. As George Eliot says:
" The words of deepest bitterness that can be known to the
human soul can never be wrung from the lips ; they are out-
ward. It is only when one has covered her head in shame
and humility, and has said, ' I am not worthy to be a
martyr. The truth shall prosper, but not by me.' "

And, therefore, my sister, if it be your high and exalted
privilege to have gotten a glimpse of truth, thank God. If
it has been your higher and still more exalted privilege to
have been able to give this truth to the world, thank God.
If it has been your sublime privilege to see the world
accept it, thank God. But in every case and all cases thank
God that truth is, and that you have heard its voice.

Then, oh, woman ! what may we not prophesy of thee,
when thou hast come into perfect harmony with the truth,
when thou hast heard its voice speaking in thine own being ?
What may we not prophesy of thee when from oflF the altar
a living coal shall be pressed to thy lips, and thou shalt
speak words all aflame with truth, which, when sinking into
the heart of humanity, shall kindle a flame all divine within
each heart, and a nation shall be bom, an unknown nation
yet, but a nation shall be born who shall call thee blessed?

868 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

It has been said that it is the greatest sacrifice one can
make for a friend to give up one's life for one's love ; to
sacrifice one's life ; to lay down your own to find it in the
good of another. But how much richer, how much holier,
is the praise of her who lays down her own good, who sac-
rifices it for the good of another unknown, or for the good
of a nation yet unborn. This is the highest test of loyalty
to truth. So that whether that which you have in your
soul to-day, which bums like a living flame, shall be
accepted by the race or not, if you lay down your own good
for the good of a race that shall be, then you have mani-
fested the greatest loyalty to truth that can be manifested
by any one, and the truth has come, and your reward shall
be the love of a people.

Do not now say I lift the standard too high. The
standard of God can not be lifted too high. The standard
of truth must ever be high above the standards of the
world, and the standard-bearers of truth must ever be in
advance of the great march of the world behind them.
Therefore, do not lower your standard one inch. Do not
stay your progress one moment. Do not hesitate or falter,
but remember the words of the young color-bearer in our
late war, who, when the standard-bearer* of his regiment
was shot down, sprang forward, caught the colors ere they
reached the ground, and then, thrilled with enthusiasm,
pressed on before, on, on, up the hill toward the rampart
upon which they were charging. Seeing him go faster
than the men could follow, the colonel shouted out : " Bring
back those colors ! " But without faltering he glanced back
and cried, " No, colonel, bring your men up to the colors ! **
And on he went and planted the colors, and the men
gathered around the flag of their country.

And so, my sisters, do not falter ; and when they cry, the
world is not ready, the world has not been educated up to
your truth, call back to the world, ** We can not lower our
standard to the level of the world. Bring your old world
up to the level of our standard." Then shall the people of

RELIGION. 869

the world be lifted nearer to God, near the glory which
evermore surrounds truth, near the eternal peace of God
flowing like a mighty river, near in heart and soul to the
truth and the source of all truth, the infinite love of
Divinity itself.

Therefore, let me close in the words of one not of our
faith, or the faith of any here ; one from across the seas, a
Brahman, who said : " The differences in religious views
have divided the world into seventy great nations. I scan
them all, and in and through them all I gather one truth —
divine love."

And let us add to that the words of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth : " One is your father, even Gk>d ; and all ye are
brethren."

CHAPTER XIV.~ INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND
MORAL REFORM,

AS TREATED IN THE SUBORDINATE CONGRESSES.

Editorial Comment — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the
Department Congress of the Women's Trades Unions, by Mary E.
Kenney — Extracts from Addresses Delivered in the Department
Congress of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union»
BY Clara C. Hoffman and Frances Leiter — Extracts from an
Address Delivered in the Department Congress of the National
Christian League for the Promotion of Social Purity, by Elizabeth
B. Grannis — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Depart-
ment Congress of the National Columbian Household Economic
Association, by Laura S. Wilkinson — Extracts from an Address
Delivered in the Department Congress of the American Protect-
ive Society of Authors, by Grace Greenwood (Sara J. Lippincott)
— Extracts from Addresses Delivered in the Report Congresses
BY Mrs. John Wood Stewart, Mrs. Fairchild Allen, Hanna Bteber-
Boehm, and Mrs. Bedford Fenwick.

AT first sight the contents of this chapter may seem
oddly grouped, but a little reflection will enable
one to see that existing moral and social conditions
are, in large degree, the consequence of industrial standards,
conditions, and opportunities. The growing desire to lift
housekeeping into a profession, to classify and systematize
** the medley of shreds and patches '* included under that
vague general term, is most encouraging. It is evident that
the phrase "dignity of labor," which has served to decorate
so many fine exhortations delivered by the idle to the indus-
trious, has assumed a practical significance. Women see that
in the ability to sustain themselves by labor lies their only
certain basis of self-respect, their only security against the
most insidious and fatal temptations. That wealth does not

(870)

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 871

release its possessor from the moral necessity of developing
and applying her powers, and that poverty does not excuse
its victim from results that her own industry might forestall,
are truths of relatively recent acceptance. — [The Editor.]

Organization of Working Women — Address by Mary
E. Kenney, Organizer for the American Federa-
tion OF Labor.

To say that it is difficult to organize women is not say-
ing the half. There are several reasons which prevent
women from wishing to organize. In the first place, they
are reared from childhood with one sole object in view — an
object I do not wish to discourage but to elevate from its
present conditions — that is, marriage. If our mothers
would teach us self-reliance and independence, that it is our
duty to depend wholly upon ourselves, we should then feel
the necessity of organization, and especially of the new form
of organization, which is voluntary cooperation. The one
reason I have given leads to others. Because they do not
feel that they have a permanent place in the industrial
world they go into it for the time being only, and do not
study its interests. They accept the system they are com-
pelled to slave under as they find it, and give no thought to
whether it could be changed or their conditions bettered.

Again, they feel that an institution, which has for its plat-
form protection, is for men only, and the only protection
they expect is the protection given them by men, not real-
izing that it is their duty to protect themselves. So that
the only hope in the organization of women is in getting
them to feel that they are, or should learn to be,
independent.

Another reason, and especially the reason in New York
City, is that the women are intimidated by their employers,
and in many cases by the forewoman. I met a very bright
young woman in New York who was discharged for being

872 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

a member of an organization. She feels the necessity of
united effort among the workers, but is compelled to earn
her livelihood, and consequently is deprived of the right to
better her condition, or assist or meet her sister workers,
through the fear of being deprived of her present means of
subsistence. Such is the existing condition of the working
women in our free America, where slavery is supposed to
be a thing of the past, but where it really exists to-day in
the most tyrannical form.

In addition to the above reasons, there is a difficulty in
reaching the women in factories, especially in large cities,
where it is difficult to gain access, in order to distribute
invitations to a meeting under the guise of " an entertain-
ment with addresses." I have entered many a factory
with the expectation of being thrown out when detected,
and in many instances have been told to get out as quickly
as possible, without a thought that I was at least human.

Statistics of women employed in cities show that the time
lost by women in Chicago earning less than one hundred
dollars a year is 1 15.5 days, while the time lost by women
earning five hundred dollars a year and over is 14.5 days.
In other words, the women and girls who are poorly clad,
poorly fed, and poorly housed, lose more than eight times
the number of days lost by those in comfortable circum-
stances. In New York the women earning less than one
hundred dollars a year lose an average of 128 days, while
the women earning five hundred dollars or more lose only
17.3 days. The same is true of Boston, where women earn-
ing under one hundred dollars a year lose 108.5 days, while
the women earning five hundred dollars and over lose 11.4
days. It is only reasonable to suppose that the unfortunate
women receiving starvation wages are deprived of even
these through ill-health caused by poor food, poor clothing,
and poor shelter.

There is but one city, in my judgment, where justice is
done working-women, and that is in Troy, N. Y. Here the
principal industry is shirtmaking, and the women are

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 873

thoroughly organized. The employes work by the piece,
six and eight hours a day, and receive ten to twelve dollars
a week, which is fair wages. In Troy, if one individual
has a grievance, and a just one, all demand justice at once.

In Albany, just across the river, the conditions in this
same industry, and above all in the shops owned by the
Troy firm of shirtmakers, are just reversed. The town is
wholly unorganized. The women in the shirt industry,
with the exception of those in one factory, are intimidated
and kept from organizing. The factories are nothing bet-
ter than slave prisons.

I applied for work at one factory with the object of
becoming acquainted with some of the girls. I found
that I should have to purchase a machine if I went to
work. This would cost forty-five dollars, of which five
dollars must be paid down, and one dollar a week after-
ward till paid for. When I became an expert shirt-
maker I could earn from five to six dollars a week. I
had to be at my machine at half -past seven in the morning
or be fined. Not a word must be spoken during working
hours. This is a rule in every factory in which I have
worked.

Here are conditions existing in twin cities, one working
under the factory lash, and the other under the condition
of organized labor. Many of the Troy girls told me it was
a pleasure to work in their shops. In Albany it is a dread.
What a shame it is for a majority of the people to allow
their freedom to be jeopardized by a few, especially when
they hold the remedy in their own hands !

In my own trade, bookbinding, the wages paid in Albany
are seven cents an hour for a ten-hour day, or four dollars
and twenty cents a week, and still we are expected to be
respectable. I know a forewoman in Albany who receives
only five dollars a week, and she has an aged mother to
support out of that. In this same office I know a young
woman feeding presses who receives five dollars a week,
and she also has a mother to support. This woman is

874 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

doing the same work a man does, and ought to receive
from ten dollars and one-half to twelve dollars a week.
Both of these young friends of mine give their whole
time, labor, and skill from seven o'clock in the morning
until six o'clock at night for a bare existence,

I have given only a few facts from personal experience.
Just such conditions exist in our very midst. We don't
have to go to Boston or New York.

Is it any wonder, then, with these fearful facts confront-
ing them, that the masses are beginning to feel the injustice
and oppression that is forced upon them ? There are a few
awake to their sense of duty, both to themselves and their
fellow workers. All the masses need is to be educated to
that sense of duty which will demand justice and abolish
that system which compels my sex to accept wholesale
prostitution, crime, and degradation.

A Bird*s-Eye View of the National Woman's Chris-
TiAN Temperance Union — Address by Clara C.
Hoffman of Missouri.

Well was it said by Mrs. Lathrap in the council of 1891,
" No other association has become so distinguished for the
friends it has won and the enemies it has made. It has
touched the home, the school, the church, the political and
legislative power of the whole country until the shore-marks
of its influence are wide as the Republic," The National
Woman's Christian Temperance Union is applied Chris-
tianity ; applied, not to a select few, but to humanity. It
implies the possession and cultivation of a sense richer than
benevolence, wider than philanthropy, and kinder than
theology; the sense of humanity that sees the father-
hood of God for all, the brotherhood of man in all. It is a
teacher who sees with the natural eye, and knows with the
human reason, a multitude of conditions in this life that
can and should be changed ; a teacher who believes that the

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 875

much-talked-of, yet distant, coming of our Lord will be
mightily hastened when all the people are taught the
duties and" conduct of this life; taught concerning the
duty of husbands to wives and wives to husbands ; concern-
ing the right of all children to be born of love and hope,
not lust ; concerning the equal responsibility of parents, the
care of the house, ventilation, wholesome cooking, cleanli-
ness of streets, comfortable and convenient clothing, holi-
days, amusements, equal pay for equal work, justice to
woman, good manners at home and in the public assembly.

With our young women, called '* Y's," and our host of
honorable honoraries, with Loyal Temperance Legions,
boys and girls, and the valiant men who register our senti-
ments at the ballot-box, our national family sweeps away
beyond the half -million line.

Every State and Territory is organized, and unions are
formed among the colored people, the Swedes, Norwegians,
and Germans in this country. The National Woman's Chris-
tian Temperance Union has joined hands with England and
British America, and its insignia, the white ribbon, and its
ritual of total abstinence are adopted there as here.

More than twenty-seven thousand medals, silver, gold,
and diamond, have been given by that great-hearted phi-
lanthropist, W. J. Demorest of New York, to the youthful
winners in oratorical contests, conducted mainly by the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

By ceaseless agitation it has compelled city councils and
authorities to recognize the necessity of police matrons,
until this office is now firmly established in a great number
of cities. The barbaric law, practically pronouncing the
little girl of ten years old enough and mature enough to
protect herself against the wiles of evil men, can no longer
stand on our statute books unchallenged by the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union ; and for every advance made
toward decent, humane legislation on this subject, it must
in all fairness receive the major credit. Through plans
carefully devised in national conventions, and faithfully

876 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

carried out by department superintendents, the broaden-
ing, elevating, humanizing, christianizing influence of the
National Woman's Christian Temperance Union has reached
all sorts and conditions of men.

Happy under the leadership of one wise enough and
broad enough to seek " every creature's best," to help in
the betterment of the world, the National Woman's Chris-
tian Temperance Union has never refused to cooperate with
every society whose aim is truth and justice for humanity.
Steadily has it maintained the right of woman's equality,
officially committing itself to that most righteous cause
when policy counseled silence; and to-day its advocates
for woman suffrage outnumber those of any society in this
magnificent council of women.

Through its varied activities, its wide philanthropies, and
tireless education within, without, around, and everywhere,
the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union has
become the mightiest dynamite under the moss-grown walls
of prejudice built centuries ago on the traditions of men.
Where politics and ecclesiasticism had failed came the
National Woman's Christian Temperance Union with love
in its heart, and a knot of snowy ribbon in its hand, and
bridged the chasm between a severed North and South.

To the incomparable leader of the National and the
World's Woman's Christian Temperance Unions, Frances
E. Willard, God has given a vision broader and kinder than
that seen from Pisgah's height ; the vision of a promised
land fairer than Canaan, whose inhabitants with sober brain,
clear eye, and steady limb shall confess God's law within
their members, as on stony tablet ; whose constitution shall
be the Golden Rule, and whose allegiance shall be forever
to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ.

^.y

Florence Elizabeth Cor v.
Florence Fenwick Miller. Emmeline R. Wells

• • . J

INDtrSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 877

Physical Education for Women — Address by Frances
W. Leiter of Ohio, Superintendent of Physical
Culture Department of the Young Woman's
Christian Temperance Union.

It has been significantly stated that the girl who can
enter womanhood with a liberal education and good health
is equipped to command the world. In the majority of
cases, where such is seriously desired, the liberal education
is denied because good health is lacking. The abundant
opportunities in these days for self-help make pecuniary
disadvantages of small account in acquiring an education,
if the individual possess courage and endurance, which are
the results of health.

The success of all plans for the advancement and enlarged
usefulness of women, as a class, will be determined in years
to come by prevailing physical conditions.

What has it been in the past? Prejudice in favor of
unsuppressed activity for the boy, and modest inactivity for
his less fortunate sister, has laid the weight of unfair
restraint upon every girl from the hour of her birth. If
the vivacity of some physically gifted daughter has vent-
ured to break the bars of. this time-honored restraint, she
has, until recent years, been branded a " hoiden."

There is nothing in the genesis of the human race
which can lead to the conclusion that God ordained two
sets of laws, almost diametrically opposite, for the main-
tenance of health in Adam and his wife Eve. The penalty
which has been suffered under this false adjustment bears
its own disastrous marks in the generations of to-day.

The father may possess a fine physique and a robust con-
stitution. This does not, however, insure to the son the
same, if the mother is lacking in these directions ; nor is
the daughter assured even her mother's disabled status
with such unbalanced parentage.

The highest possibilities of the race demand improve-

67

878 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

ment in both fathers and mothers. It does not, however,
require a very keen student of the situation to understand
that the success of human fruitage rests largely with the
sex which nature has decreed shall foster the developing
germ, and whose personal characteristics, w^hether merit-
ing praise or censure, shall silently mold the child after her
own pattern.

Of the personal characteristics of the mother, which
manifest themselves in a greater or less degree in her off-
spring, as a rule, none are more striking, or indeed signifi-
cant, than physical defects, because these often appear as
indices of the grave elements in character. The skipping
of a single generation or several, in proof of this, does not
weaken the truth.

Who is ready to deny that uncertain conditions of health
bar women from the extended fields of usefulness already
wide open to those who will enter ? Who, of all woman-
kind, will venture to assert that woman can ever meet
successfully even, the initial duties of citizenship, until a
keener intellect, keyed to the demand by the supporting
tide of physical well-being, enables her to grasp, mentally,
some of the questions in social and political life ?

What systematic physical discipline has accomplished
for men it can do for women. Por their own sake and that
of posterity these results should be sought.

Who does not know that to be a Roman implied the pos-
session of a magnificent physique, through which all the
cherished attributes of that warlike people found expres-
sion ? This was not alone the result of careful training,
but the inheritance from the mother as well. So, promi-
nent in Roman history stands the noble Roman matron,
whose systematic training, physical and mental, fitted
her to become the mother of sons of whom that nation
was justly proud. Shall we do less for a nation whose
form of government crowns each son with the emblem
of sovereignty, and whose increasing knowledge of the
right, in the light of divine law, will sooner or later place

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 879

the same privileges and obligations upon every American
daughter ?

It is not the time or place to discuss at length the
methods by which this needed discipline can be secured.
Suffice it to say, each community, small or great, should
establish a gymnasium where women and girls can assem-
ble and receive instruction under some specialist qualified
to meet the needs of the sex.

After more than half a century of varying experience,
physical training is taking its place gradually in the cur-
riculum of popular education, which includes girls as well
as boys. The various educational institutions for women
are also adding well-equipped gymnasiums as one of the
inducements for patronage.

The first record we have of physical training for girls
was made in the Boston Monitorial School, in 1824. In
attempting to introduce some of the simplest exercises, the
principal encountered the objections of primly educated
parents. After a struggle these were, in a great measure,
overcome. In writing to a friend regarding the experience,
the principal said : " I trust the day is not far distant when
gymnasia for women and girls will be as common in Boston
as churches ; and that young men, in selecting mothers for
their offspring, will see to it that they are healthy and
strong, capable of enduring fatigue and encountering
dangers."

Seventy years later we respond to this a hearty Meth-
odistic amen, with the addition, however, that we trust our
young women, in accepting fathers for their children, will
see to it that they can give purity for purity, lives untainted
by the drugs and weed which are sapping the manhood
of the nation, and through the laws of heredity cursing
posterity.

880 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The National Christian League for the Promotion
OF Social Purity — Report and Address by Eliza-

BETH B. GRANNIS OF NeW YORK, PRESIDENT OF THE

National Christian League for the Promotion of
Social Purity.

The National Christian League for the Promotion of
Social Purity was organized in 1886. The national chaiter
was obtained in October, 1889. The league aims to estab-
lish a single standard of purity, or to secure the same
measure of chastity for men and boys which is required for
women and girls. Girls and women must be freed from
the sense of dependence upon men for financial aid and
social position, which often becomes a temptation to wrong-
doing, before this single standard can be universally con-
ceded.

Since the organization of the league much good has been
accomplished along the many lines which promise a higher
and equal standard of purity. Very much has been accom-
plished through the religious and secular press, by regular
monthly meetings, and by the special literature published
and circulated by the league.

The headquarters are at 33 East Twenty-second Street,
New York City.

We are convinced, and would suggest to other earnest
advocates of a higher standard of purity, that no greater
power can be summoned in the cause of purity than the
regular daily, weekly, and monthly publications, in spread-
ing a knowledge of the advantage gained to all classes in
seeking to develop a higher standard and universal chastity
for every individual.

The league had four bills before the Legislature last win-
ter. The '* tobacco " bill was in the form of an amendment
to the code, and was designed for preventing the giving or
sale of tobacco to minors by prison authorities. One might
be surprised on learning that prison law and custom furnish

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 881

tobacco to boys even under the age of eighteen, who have
never had chewing tobacco in their mouths until confined
in prison or jail for petit larceny or other crime, so that
they come out veteran tobacco chewers.

Our second bill was another amendment to the code, to
the effect that any person convicted of breaking the Seventh
Commandment should be imprisoned for not less than one
year, and fined not less than one thousand dollars. We
have had no law in the Empire State for more than forty
years against the crime of adultery. There is often no
alternative but to sue for divorce, which many wives and
mothers are unwilling to do; while, if this bill could be
passed, few persons could live openly in illicit relations, and
it would have a most wholesome effect in preventing a
reckless man from boasting to his wife of his unchaste
relations with other women, and in many cases prevent such
evil relations altogether.

We also had a bill the import of which was to secure a
farm, and a temporary city home, for persons of any age,
worthy or unworthy, and regardless of sex, where they could
receive employment at a nominal remuneration, but suffi-
cient to provide them shelter, food, clothing, and baths.

Our fourth bill was a very simple one, drawn by Judge
Arnoux, who is a strong advocate of suffrage for women!

During the past three years we have striven arduously to
agitate public opinion in the interest of a higher standard
of purity, among those particularly who do not believe that
a life of perfect chastity is as desirable and possible for men
and boys as for women and girls. We have discussed the
various forms of impurity which exist in and out of the
family relation, while our steady purpose has been to impart
judicious information and intelligence respecting personal
virtue, from the period of earliest consciousness to the grave.
We do not fail to commend the stanch and noble declara-
tions of many of the best members of the medical profession
who believe in and teach the equal standard of purity;
neither do we cease to denounce, as we have occasion, the

882 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

fatal results of perverted judgment on the part of medical
men who are graduates of our oldest colleges and practi-
tioners in many of our best families, who teach that while
physiological laws remain as they have existed from the
beginning, and will continue to the end, the same stand-
ards can not be required of men which are right and proper
for women.

We persistently seek to impress the fact that whatever
enhances the value of woman in the home, or out of it, is
of equal value to every man who desires to be the head of
his own family, or who expects to participate in creating a
home, and to be recognized as a member of respectable
society.

We have already commenced to raise a fund with which
to rent or buy a permanent home, where needy girls and
women may find employment without reference to age or
condition of any sort. We must have a place in which any
homeless person may find an opportunity to earn a humble
^living. Existing charitable homes are usually established
for special classes. There is almost no provision in New
York City by which in an emergency a girl, boy, man, or
woman, without friends or money, can find a refuge. Every
place of shelter and help has been full this entire winter ;
even Blackwell's Island is in every department overcrowded,
and surely no able-bodied girl or woman, or one who is able
to earn fifty cents per day, ought to be sent to the workhouse
or almshouse.

There is no institution so much needed in great cities for
any class or classes of helpless persons as an institution
which shall furnish temporary or permanent shelter to
exceptional cases, and employment for self-support. Every
dollar in money which is not earned when given has a
tendency to pauperize or reduce self-respect. It is far bet-
ter that all should render service for whatever they receive,
whether the service is worth anything to any person or not ;
and there is no one who is able to stand or speak who can
not, under good executive management, be placed in cir-

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 883

cumstances where he or she can do something toward an
independent support.

The league, by a unianimous vote at its general meeting,
and at its woman's business meeting in February, passed
resolutions denouncing a proposed " Song and Dance Bill"
for licensing little girls of tender age to appear upon the
stage in theatrical exhibitions. The league sent out one
hundred and sixty copies of these resolutions to Senators and
Representatives at Albany, urging them to kill this bill
promptly, which, if passed, would necessarily aid in the
propagation of vice. We have also sent many letters to
individuals, asking their cooperation to aid in preventing
its passage, and have received a number of responses from
Senators and Representatives, who have promised to do all
in their power to prevent the adoption of the bill.

The incorporators of the Christian League are often
asked why we did not unite with the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, or the White Cross movement, or some
of the other organizations already in existence, instead of
organizing as a distinct national society.

First. After many years of deliberation we were con-
vinced that it was necessary to have a headquarters at
Washington or New York City.

Second. We believe that men and women ought to be
associated as co-workers in seeking a higher and equal
standard of purity for both sexes in and out of the church.
We recognize that there is a department of work which
can be better done by men alone, and other work which can
be done effectively only by women ; and that a far greater
amount can be accomplished when managed by mutual
leadership.

While we would not intimate that the league has done
better work than other organizations, still we are confident
that in due time, when the league shall have attained mature
age and full strength, it will have proven that the coopera-
tion of men and women as workers in this cause has

884 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

accomplished far better and greater results than either men
or women could accomplish separately.

Third. The league is, as a whole, thoroughly in sympa-
thy with the various temperance movements, and its indi-
vidual members work singly and collectively for the restric-
tion of the tobacco habit, and total abstinence from it, as
well as for the absolute disuse of alcoholic stimulants.

The league exacts no pledge from any individual mem-
ber, save that he or she accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as
his or her personal Saviour and the leader and example in
every good work.

We aim to teach the right of every child to the counsel,
companionship, and love of his father, the same as to that
of his mother, under whatever circumstances it may have
been forced into existence, whether it be born to a legiti-
mate father and mother or not. We teach the enormity of
the sin in the illegitimate father, notwithstanding that the
law and custoin of the land permits him to give away the
child to a public institution wherever philanthropy may
provide a resting-place for the little bundle of helpless
infancy, and thus ignore his fatherly responsibility to his
own child, which is deprived even of its birthright to its
father's name.

We acknowledge that it is equally culpable in an illegiti-
mate mother to dispose of her unprotected offspring, to
whom no thought is given in most cases by the father,
whether he have the wealth of millions, a college education,
and forty years or more of worldly club-life experience, or
whether he be the vilest of criminals from the lowest vaga-
bond ranks.

Women who have pursued with careful and prayerful
investigation the helpless young mothers, gathered from
the ranks of typewriters, stenographers, teachers, book-
keepers, store or factory girls, often find them with their
helpless infants in great charitable church institutions,
lying-in hospitals, reformatories, or in the street, gone from
bad to worse in hopeless despair, while the illegitimate

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. . 885

father in many cases is rewarded by smiles and patronage
from the officers of "church societies." Intelligent
mothers in and out of the church connected with these
great benevolent homes really believe in their hearts that
these illegitimate fathers have been very generous under
the circumstances to bestow one hundred and fifty dollars
or two hundred and fifty dollars upon the institution which
receives the pretty little errand girl, chambermaid, or book-
keeper, as the case may be, and supplies her with a bed,
and surrounds her with machine routine, medical attend-
ance, and strangers to explain to her the enormity of the
sin of giving birth to an " illegitimate infant." Yes, the
shocking falsehood by the church and state must be reiter-
ated even to-day, that the. innocent, helpless little offspring,
directly- legitimate from the hand of the Creator, must suf-
fer the stigma of the abominable sin of its illegitimate
father and mother, until the laws of the land shall be
revised in accordance with the gospel of Christ, taking the
place of old Jewish law or the more unjust conservative
rule of modem society.

And what ought to be said and done concerning feticide
in fashionable society ? What does it lead to in and out of
the marriage relation, and where is it to end ? Is murder
made respectable because it is a common and every-day
occurrence in the families of communicants of every divis-
ion of the church ? There is no space here or the oppor-
tunity to call your attention to the unnamable sins of the
age. We, as Christians, are commanded to go out and seek
and save the lost. If we close our eyes to these terrible
evils, how can they be restricted or cast out of our midst ?

The letters which have been received by the officers of
the Christian League from wives and mothers disclose
facts which exist in the homes of the wealthy, in Christian
families, in the haunts of degradation and poverty, as well as
in the municipal government, of which most of us had never
heard until we became an organized society to aid in these
matters.

886 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The highest Christian civilization may learn much from
the oriental governments. If men are fitted to render safer
and better service as eunuchs in oriental countries, why not
adopt this most needed and surest method of punishment
for certain criminals ? Have we not Scripture teaching and
example to sustain this plan ? If any member of the body
offend, shall it not be removed, that the whole body be not
sacrificed to the one unruly member ? Let wise statesmen
counsel with the elect women, and adopt more rational
methods for preventing certain crimes.

Working members of the Christian League have been
frequent visitors during the past three years to all the city
public institutions, prisons, insane asylums, and station,
houses, during the day and night, where women lodgers and
prisoners are received. From time to time we have sought
in various ways to urge the necessary means for preventing
practices which exist in these places ; and improvements
have been effected by securing the cooperation of men in
political power. Many of the patients in the insane pavilion
at Blackweirs Island, and in all the asylums in the country,
are victims of self-indulgence. Is it not time for the church
to awaken to its responsibility and seek the cooperation of
honest, chaste physicians, who will manifest a higher regard
for physical and spiritual development for all God's children
than for the etiquette so tenaciously regarded by men and
women of the profession ?

Solitary confinement in every penal institution is a source
of untold evil. Every evil thought is rampant ; many evil
schemes are concocted; evil hands are directed by evil
thought ; and evil thought is certainly intensified by soli-
tary confinement.

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 887

The Columbian Association of Housekeepers and
Bureau of Information, with Plans for the Work
Outlined in the National Columbian Household
Economic Association, which was Incorporated
March 15, 1893.— Report by Laura S. Wilkinson
OF Chicago.

The National Columbian Household Economic Associa-
tion is a direct outgrowth from one of the committees of
the congress auxiliary. When the chairman on Household
Economics was appointed she called together the members
of her department, but found that there was no formulated
plan of work. This committee, numbering thirty, was one
of the largest in the auxiliary, yet its attendance was so
irregular that we discovered that no real work could be
done unless we could be aided by additional money and
more members. The one way to meet this difficulty was
to form an association which should include the members
of the committee, and make it possible to obtain subscrip-
tions to carry on the work. This was done early in October,
1891.

The objects of this association are, as the constitution
announces, " To awaken the public mind to the importance
of establishing a bureau of information, where there can
be an exchange of words and needs between the employer
and employed in every department of home and social life.
Second, to promote among its members a more scientific
knowledge of the economic value of the various foods and
fuels, and a more intelligent understanding of correct
plumbing and drainage in our homes, as well as of the
need for pure water and good light. Also to secure skilled
labor in every department of woman's work in our homes."

The work of the association was to be done through
seven committees. It was not our intention to confine our
work to Chicago, and for this reason we adopted the name
of the " Columbian Association of Housekeepers."

888 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The chairman of Household Economics prepared and sent
out the preliminary address, which was copied into many
newspapers.

Our aim has been to consider the condition of the girl at
service, her limitations, and her hours of labor ; and con-
stantly to ask ourselves if we, in her place, without a special
training, could do as well. We attempted to find out why
intelligence offices were so unsatisfactory. We found that
there were several hundred intelligence offices in the city,
but that they were doing little more than to receive their
fees, and leave the housekeeper to look up the references
of those who applied for situations.

Failing in our efforts to improve the intelligence offices,
we next turned our attention to what could be done toward
establishing schools where instruction could be given in
housework, and to see what could be done to induce girls
to take a three months* course of training before going into
service. We found that there were no such schools. To
establish one would demand trained teachers, salaries,
buildings, etc. And then, where could we find the girl to
take this preparatory course, when every kitchen is open to
her to learn at the employer's expense ? There is no estab-
lished rate for service. All seems to depend upon the purse
of the mistress.

We have brought the topic before the association, and
committees have been appointed ; but the fact is slowly
though surely being impressed upon our minds that the
fault lies with the housekeeper. Recognizing this, we
decided to have a course of lectures on domestic service.
These lectures were given by Prof. Lucy M. Salmon of Vas-
sar College, who brought before us, in a historical and
scholarly way, the condition of domestic service.

Not succeeding in arousing enthusiasm for our school of
household science, we next turned our attention to what
could be done in the way of establishing a housekeepers'
emergency bureau to supply temporary help, the employe
returning to her home each day. A committee of ladies

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 889

have charge of this work, look up the references of those
who apply for the work, and a book of registration for
employer and employe is kept at the office. On these books
are found women wishing and willing to do all kinds of work
— sewers, menders, housekeepers, teachers, stenographers,
caterers, nurses, scrub women, and day governesses.

The monthly reports of the Housekeepers' Emergency
Bureau constitute one of the most interesting features of
our regular meetings, and testify to the value of the bureau.

Early in 1893, the chairman of the Food Supply Commit-
tee began her market reports. When these reports were
read at our regular meetings, they proved so acceptable that
it was voted that the association print them in pamphlet
form for distribution. These reports make a general sur-
vey of the condition of the markets, both east and west,
and contain many valuable hints in regard to purchasing
food, as well as most practicable suggestions for the
preparation of food. Usually recipes are given. At the
same time all the latest improvements in prepared foods
are mentioned.

Another item of interest to the housekeeper has been the
finding out of those utensils which are absolutely necessary
for a well-appointed kitchen. The cook-books in the market
vary considerably in their printed lists of these, and it has
been one of the duties of the association to look up this
matter.

The Aladdin oven is perhaps the most popular of all the
inventions that have been reported to us. This, as is well
known, is the invention of Edward Atkinson, who has made
a study of the nutritive qualities of food, and has made a
scientific investigation of the most economical and hygienic
way of applying heat. This oven seems to be one of the
most satisfactory inventions of the age, but it must be put
into the hands of an intelligent housekeeper. The ordi-
nary g^rl will have no patience with it, as it is necessary
that the meal should be planned ahead, so that proper time
can be given for the cooking. The Aladdin oven can not

890 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

be hurried. It does its work slowly and surely. It is a
great boon to those women who do their own housework.

What is the advantage of becoming a member of the
National Columbian Association ? is constantly asked. The
first advantage is that it brings those women who are most
interested in the real study of economic problems into
closer relation with each other.

What is the advantage to those women not living in a
city ? Our monthly meetings are held the fourth Wednes-
day in each month. Our plan has been, within ten days
from the day of the meeting, to mail reports of what is done
at the meeting to each non-resident member. Usually,
at our meetings, letters which have been sent to the asso-
ciation are read, and extracts from these letters are pub-
lished. Questions are presented which sometimes remain
unanswered for months, and the answer may come from a
long distance.

In summing up the year's work last October, one thing
which we had pledged ourselves to take hold of was a
school for household science. We had made a study of the
plans outlined in the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, N. Y.

In the meanwhile Armour Institute was opened on
Thirty-third Street, with Doctor Gunsaulus as president,
and we soon learned that Armour Institute was to be
modeled after the Pratt Institute. Doctor Gunsaulus had
recognized the importance of a school of household science,
and in the institute will be given the opportunity for our
young girls to become fully instructed in scientific house-
keeping.

The next point is, what guarantee w^ill there be that the
girls having received the instruction will go out to service?
This will be the most difficult of all our problems. But
when we recognize the fact that the girls in domestic serv-
ice need the same thoughtful consideration as the girls in
shops and offices, then will be found college settlements
springing up to help the servant girls by establishing clubs
and study classes.

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 891

It will not break up our homes to have our cooks and our
maids come at regular hours to do their work and depart.
But it will occasion a more systematic arrangement of all
housework, and will ultimately end in establishing a system
of cooperation differing from those plans of cooperation
which have been tried and found wanting ; because, in this
new era of cooperation, skilled labor will be demanded in
each department. When business methods shall have been
established in the kitchen as in the shop, none will be selected
for any line of labor save those educated in that line.

The food question alone is one of the most serious, and
worthy of careful study. It is not enough to know how to
prepare food ; we must understand its adaptation from a
chemical standpoint. In other words food must be made
subservient to the various needs of the human organism,
superinduced by climatic influence, occupation, and other
causes of no less importance.

Another object is to make a study of the fuels and the
application of heat needed in the preparation of food. This
will lead to an investigation of those inventions which
have so perfected the means to this end, viz., the applica-
tion of gas and coal-oil, and the possibilities in electricity.

A Statement of Facts — Address by Grace Green-
WOOD (Mrs. Sara J. Lippincott) of Washington,
D. C.

I would willingly preach a double-headed sermon, or one
based on two distinct texts, yet not without spiritual con-
nection, namely: " Put not your trust in publishers,"
" Train up your daughters in the way that they should go,
as," not /?r, "business men." In treating both texts I
should be compelled to stand torth as the "awful exam-
pie." I shrink with actual shame from revealing, as I must,
in a truthful statement, my own weakness, ignorance, and
eternal verdancy in matters of business.

892 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

I have been almost from the beginning of my book-
making experience a meek, sheared sheep ; a bewildered,
plucked goose, subjected to all the inclemencies of the book
market and trade sales, lost in " the ways that are dark,"
done for by " the tricks that are vain " of the masters of the
guild. Still for the truth's sake, and the good of younger
sisters, I have made up my mind to " a round unvarnished
tale deliver," wherein I shall " naught extenuate and naught
set down in malice."

My first publishers, a distinguished Boston house, who
took me up in 1850, perhaps spoiled me a little by their
kindness. They were my personal friends, and fair and
considerate, as publishers go. I was really very popular in
those days, when clever women, ambitious for literary hon-
ors, did not beset publishers in such ravenous hosts as office-
seekers beset Congressmen now, and I do not think that
Messrs. Ticknor & Fields, who continued to publish for me
some twenty-five years, lost by me at any time. But the
house changed hands, and during my absence for a year in
Europe, their successors, without consulting me, sold the
plates of all my books, some fourteen volumes, to a certain
New York publisher, also distinguished, who, I was assured,
would continue to publish for me, keeping the books in the
market, as far as possible, and paying me my royalty on
all copies sold. I never received from this New York
house one penny, nor was any account ever rendered, even
of the copies printed, which were, I am told, sold with the
plates. Had I not been crippled by some serious pecuniary
losses, and discouraged by more serious illness, I should
myself have bought the plates, and resumed the publication
of at least the juvenile story books, which were and are the
most popular of my writings. As it was, I had to let them
remain in the hands of that very respectable concern,
hoping always that they had *' a good Holt " on them, and
would see their way to resume their publication and do
justly by me. I was not quite simple enough to look for
generosity.

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM.

On my return from my trip abroad, I ascertained that
another New York house which had published my two
latest volumes, bringing them out handsomely and report-
ing good sales, had, in a stress of adverse fortune, sold not
only the plates of both my books, but the copyrights !
My copjrrights ! Still I did nothing. I did not see that I
could do anything but harm others without benefiting
myself. These gentlemen were publishers, respectable
citizens, honorable men — " all honorable men."

During another and prolonged visit to Europe I was
informed that the Alden book concern had exhumed the
long-buried plates of my juvenile books, and was publish-
ing them in a cheap, much mixed-up edition. I winced a
little at the inelegant dress of the Boston-bom volumes, but
was comforted somewhat by a modest royalty, which was
regularly paid me for two or three years, until that company
failed, owing me several hundred dollars. This time a court
awarded me judgment for the amount due, but the sheriff
reported that he could only collect sufficient from the wreck
to pay his own fees ! Still I believe the company soon
revived and went on as before, even better, lightened of
tiresome obligations.

The big scoop-net of the United States Book Company
gathered up my poor little floating volumes. To pacify me
they brought out a new edition on which I bestowed a great
amount of new work, and was beginning to receive some-
thing in the way of royalty when that stupendous concern
was suddenly wound up, or tied up, leaving me again in
the lurch.

One or two of my volumes are at present in the hands of
Tait, Sons & Company. They are also New York pub-
lishers, and yet I have hope in their justice and fair deal-
ing.

•• Hope springs eternal in the human breast.'*

Since the failure of that gigantic book company, the
jtiggemaut of smaller publishing concerns, I have ascer-

68

894 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

tained that they were publishing two additional volumes
bearing my name, one of which I had heard of, and
denounced to them as ** a piracy " — an early book reprinted
with a new title, in order, of course, to deceive — the other
being one on which I had received no royalty since the
first year, when the payment was quite satisfactory. The
piratical publication was entitled "My Tour in Europe,**
bought out by the United States Book Company from Hub-
bard, a Philadelphia publisher, who printed and dealt in
the mutilated volume, but from whom I can gain no
account by which I can trace the first mutilator. The other
volume, wherein, as it is held, I have no rights which a pub-
lisher is bound to respect, is a ** Life of Queen Victoria,"
published by a certain, or uncertain, transitory firm, Ander-
son & Allen, in New York and London, in 1883. This firm
dissolved partnership in 1884, since which time the remain-
ing partner has given me no returns, vouchsafed me no
account, although he did make to me, some four years after
the dissolution of partnership, the astonishing statement
(which I have in writing as a curiosity in a business way)
that he had destroyed his old account books, so that he
knew nothing of what was due me, and had no way of
finding out ! This thrifty old gentleman has, however,
offered to sell me at a third of their cost (a considerable
sum at that) the plates of the biography — a book which
was certainly very well received by the public, both here
and in England, and approved by the royal family, but the
sale of which was injured by the gaudy style of binding
and by exceptionally bad management. During the jubilee
year, however, it revived and did well, as the party most
concerned admitted, but not then, nor in any year since
1884, has the value of one of the queen's own penny
postage stamps been poured into my coffers by a grateful
publisher. Still, I doubt not that in the eyes of his kind he
is an honorable man —

" So are they all, all honorable men."

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM.

The Needlework Guild of America — Report by Mrs.
John Wood Stewart of Pennsylvania.

In the realm of charity there is no need nor desire for
international copyright. We borrow and lend plans for the
public good, glad to receive and glad to share. Methods
evolved in America have commended themselves as univer-
sally beneficent, and have been adopted by other countries.
America has been equally ready to take with gratitude
ideas germinated in other soil which seem suited to her
conditions.

Perhaps England has been more than any other nation
prolific in practical plans for philanthropy. The character-
istics of most of these are directness, simplicity , and another
quality which seems strange in a country where class dis-
tinctions are so strongly marked, an adaptability to all sorts
and conditions of men. The Needlework Guild, founded
by Lady Wolverton, is a notable instance of these combined
qualities. Two thoughts appeared to rule her mind in
devising this scheme — one, the great need of garments for
the poor ; the other, in face of this, a desire to start a crusade
against the waste of time in the manufacture of so many
useless articles which come under the head of fancy work,
and to turn to the benefit of suffering humanity much val-
uable energy going to waste from want of thought rather
than from want of heart. The destitution was perpetual
and almost the same everywhere ; the relief was capricious
and varied by whim or chance, and meanwhile incalculable
hours were going by in many women's lives filled with mere
listless and aimless occupation.

"I sent a paragraph," says Lady Wolverton, "to our
county paper, suggesting the possibility of organizing a
Needlework Guild, which should substitute useful for use-
less work, and provide an object for many who had hitherto
worked without one ; the work to be given to the hospitals,
homes, etc., in the county ; at the same time asking any who

CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

approved the idea to communicate with me." The plan
was this — only two garments were to be required from each
member; only one meeting of the officers a year. Very
little time or money was asked of any one person, and there
was to be no red tape in the proceedings when the grants
of accumulated clothing were made — only the satisfaction
of inquiries prompted by common sense. Her own county
took it up, and within a month the parent of all needlework
guilds was organized and at work. Since then the growth
of the guild has been rapid and widespread. It is firmly
established, and by its inherent nature does not grow more
complex. There is only multiplication again and again of
little similar individual parts, as in the cell structure in
animal life.

Two years after the organization of the guild, Lady
Wolverton issued a report. Copies of this were brought
to America by persons in touch with the work in England,
or were sent to them by friends. The idea of soliciting
from individuals the definite donation of two garments a
year was adopted by some existing organizations, usually in
connection with churches, and some distinct societies were
formed embodying in the main Lady Wolverton*s plan.

In April, 1885, Mrs. M. M. Hartpence received an English
report and put it into the hands of a small circle of women
in Philadelphia, who held a weekly semi-social meeting in
a private house. Its beginning gave very little prophecy
of what it has become. They saw at the outset that it had
possibilities of growth beyond their own limits, and the
idea of extension and broad organization grew rapidly in
their minds, and appeared in their first printed matter put
forth two months later. This was in the form of a set of
rules embodying, in general, the principles which govern
the society to-day. The papers were sent broadcast from
Maine to California. Of the four persons who organized
the work in Philadelphia, two lost interest the first year,
and have taken no active part since. The other two are

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 897

the present general president, Mrs. J. W. Stewart, and the
general secretary, Miss S. B. Hodge.

So far as we can learn, the Philadelphia organization is
the only one which attempted from the beginning to
extend the guild beyond the limits of its own town or city.
Therefore, it may rightly assume the honorable title of
parent guild.

The first annual report, published in 1886, recorded seven
branches, and a distribution of nine hundred and twenty-
five garments. In 1886, Mrs. Morrison was appointed
president of the parent guild, which was at that time, and
remained until 1891, the center to which all branches
reported. She has held that post ever since, and the guild
owes its continued existence largely to her faithful service.

The work grew steadily, though slowly, never losing
ground, but hampered by the prolonged illness of some of
those most interested in the movement. For four years it
developed by the slow process of spontaneous growth,
aided only by an occasional newspaper article and by its
annual report; this always showed increase, but not the
rapid enlargement which the country required. We felt
that we held in our hands a force for the alleviation of suf-
fering which should be communicated to every town and
city in the land.

In June, 1890, conditions being more favorable, definite
effort was made to spread a knowledge of the guild.
Articles were written for prominent papers, many per-
sonal letters were sent, meetings were called here and
there to explain the workings and benefits of the society.
The results were quickly apparent, and many branches
were added.

Up to this time the parent guild in Philadelphia had been
the center to which all branches reported, and it had borne
the entire labor and expense. With the enlargement of
its borders it became evident that the parent guild could
not continue this course, and it was decided to make an
even division of responsibility among the branches, and to

898 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

give to each a voice in the management. Thus, in January,
1 89 1, the form of organization was changed and put upon
its present basis, and at the same time the name " Needle-
work Guild of America " was adopted. Notwithstanding
the great distances between city and city in our country,
the unity of the work as it had already begun, and its out^
look for the future, justified the name. The growth of the
society originating in Philadelphia had, with one exception,
absorbed all other branches existing in this country, and
had met with no zeal like its own, so that new branches
formed in the future were likely to be the outcome of its
own effort, not, as before, sporadic and unconnected exist-
ences. It was only as the " Needlework Guild of America '*
extended its territory that it learned of the existence of
other societies in our country formed on Lady Wolverton's
plan.

When the first step was taken to organize a branch in
New York City, in 1890-91, the society in Grace Church
was in vigorous operation. Its members, recognizing the
well-established and widely-extended work that was being
done by the larger organization on much the same lines
on which they were working, cordially united with the
" Needlework Guild of America," and their society is now
represented in the New York branch by two or more sec-
tions, which are among the largest that it has.

The unit of organization is a group of five persons —
president, secretary, and three directors — each pledged to
the collection of twenty-two garments a year. This num-
ber in a town or village (providing all denominations are
represented, for the guild is non-sectarian, and must so
manifest itself at the outset) constitutes a branch. The
same organization in a city constitutes a section, and when
ten sections have been formed the presidents elect four
leading officers — honorary president, president, secretary,
and treasurer — who have the oversight of the branch.
Vice-presidents are not required, as the section-presidents
stand in that relation, but they may be added in a village
branch.

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM.

In October or November a meeting is held, when the
garments are brought together and are distributed accord-
ing to the votes of the officers and directors. In a village
branch, directors share in the voting ; in a city branch, the
section-presidents form the committee for management and
distribution. It has been found that there is economy of
time and labor in having but one meeting a year.

Each branch conforms to the few simple rules given in
the leaflets, reports as soon as organized to the general
secretary, and receives from her the leaflets and other
papers containing instructions for carrying on the work.

As soon as possible after the autumn meeting, a state-
ment is sent to the general secretary, giving the number of
garments received and distributed, and the names of officers
and directors up to date, and this information is inserted in
the published yearly report.

That there may be unity of interest in this widely-spread-
ing society, and that every branch may have a voice in
whatever concerns the whole, the central bureau is estab-
lished to legislate for the entire body. This is composed
of the four general officers of the guild, the officers of the
parent guild, and the presidents of all the branches, and
meets annually in Philadelphia on the first Thursday of
December. During the year the affairs of the guild are
intrusted to an executive committee appointed for the cen-
tral bureau, to which it reports at the annual meeting.

Considering the wide scope of the guild, its expenses are
phenomenally small. There are no salaried officers. One
clerk at a salary of ten dollars a week is all that is necessary
to supplement the work of the officers ; an office of modest
proportions in a central location is the only other expense,
except postage, printing, and stationery, but this is a large
item. The branches pay for such literature as they order,
but much is sent them gratuitously, and an enormous
amount is distributed freely for the development of the
work.

The ideal plan for guild extension is that each branch

900 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

shall assume the task of organizing branches in its own
vicinity and wherever the influence of its members may
reach. We desire to impress upon our members, not only
as a privilege but as a duty, that each member may rightly
consider herself a deputy from the central bureau for this
purpose, for the guild is a multiplication of minute forces,
and cooperation is our watchword. Under this system the
burden will rest lightly on all, heavily on none. Thus also
will it be impossible for the work to suffer decline through
the failure of any of its leaders. Any who desire to under-
take the forming of a branch may be sure of the hearty
cooperation of the officers of the central bureau. The
rules are so few, so exact, and so simple, that if complied
with a successful organization must invariably result.

The first step to be taken in organizing a branch is to
write to the general office, 1108 Walnut Street, Philadel-
phia, for leaflets. An assortment of these is furnished gra-
tuitously to any one who will undertake to establish the
work wherever she has influence. In applying for papers
state the population of the place. A town of twenty-five
thousand or over requires a different set from a smaller
one.

The guild is a channel through which all, of whatever
name, nation or creed, may work together in unity, and
only those who are in sympathy with this spirit should lead
the movement. It should be representative of the broad
spirit and best energy" of any town or city in which it is
established.

Each branch controls the distribution of the garments it
collects. They may be given to the needy of the town, to
the charities of its nearest great city, or wterever the
officers or directors choose to send them.

A quarterly message is sent to the branches through the
Altruist Interchange, a magazine devoted to the exchange of
news among widespread philanthropic societies.

There is hardly a town or village in our land where such
an organization would not be a power for good. It will not

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 901

supplant nor in any way interfere with the work of any
other society, but is so designed that it may include and
stimulate those who, for many reasons, can not attend
meetings for sewing, and for the large number in every
community who do no systematic work of this sort.

The cordiality with which the guild is received and its
beneficence appreciated, is instanced in the case of St. Louis,
where in less than two months after organization four
thousand garments were collected. Milwaukee in six weeks
after hearing of it had over three thousand ; Elizabeth,
N. J., over two thousand within five weeks ; Buffalo, N. Y.,
in the same time, fifteen hundred; and Newark, N. J., in
less than four weeks, twenty-five hundred. All these with-
out any pressing emergency other than the **unexagger-
ated statement of daily happenings."

Anxiety has been expressed lest in great collections of
garments gathered by the Needlework Guild, with so little
cost or effort on the part of any one, there might be a
freedom in the distribution which should tend to pauper-
ization. We appreciate this, and impress caution upon
each branch in giving to individuals. There is little
danger in making grants to institutions. A paper pre-
pared to aid in our annual distributions is called ** Inqui-
ries to Institutions." After a word of explanation as to the
reason for making the inquiry, these questions follow:

First. State the sex, range of ages, and number of inmates of your
institution.

Second. How many new garments were received and distributed by
you last year ? How many old ?

Third. How many more garments could have b6en used to advantage ?
(In case of hospitals include in this estimate two warm suits of under-
clothing for every convalescent leaving your care.)

Fourth. What kind of garments are most needed?

Fifth. Does your work include any distribution to the outdoor poor?
If so, what proportion ?

These inquiries have elicited facts concerning the need
which may well persuade one to join a movement aiming
to meet that need. A well-known hospital stated that not

9()2 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

one new garment had been contributed during the previous
year, when eight thousand were in demand, and where
there was no source of supply except voluntary contribu-
tions. When one considers that this is a statement from
but one hospital, what of the many ? It does not take
a severe mental calculation to demonstrate that the five or
ten thousand garments in our individual city collections,
and the total ninety-five thousand for the past year, repre-
sent but the beginning of the effort to supply an almost
unlimited demand.

Physicians testify that many discharged as cured often
return to the hospital with a relapse, or some new form of
disease, because sent forth to meet cold and hardship so
poorly clad. The guild thus not only prevents suffering,
but saves the city or State fund, and claims attention on
account of its economy of the public service. Its field is
not confined to hospitals alone. Homes for destitute chil-
dren and the aged, homes for discharged convicts, life-
saving stations, day nurseries, schools for the f reedmen —
these and many other forms of beneficent work have
received its benefits.

The women prisoners in a certain penitentiary were
found fit subjects for merciful help in midwinter. They
often entered clad in summer rags, to be discharged in the
depth of winter, with only their own clothing returned.
Several have been reclaimed afterward by this interest
shown in them by their fellow-women. It has been said in
this connection more than once that "the line between
respectable poverty and pauperism is the clothes-line."

It is estimated that in New York City two hundred
thousand garments would barely supply present necessity,
and the president of the Chicago branch has said this city
could use judiciously an equal number.

The guild is now established in twenty-two States and in
almost all of the principal cities. We are unable to fore-
cast its future. Our constitution already provides for State
secretaries. Whether any more complex organization than

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 903

the present will become a necessity for a society having but
one department of work and requiring but one meeting a
year, we can not tell.

The Anti-Vivisection Society — Report by Mrs. Fair-
child-Allen of England.

The first organized movement against vivisection occurred
at Florence, Italy, in the latter part of 1863, when public
attention was called to the doings of Professor Schiff , whose
name frequently appears as one of the most infamous and
reckless experimenters of the world. No persecution or
prosecution was attempted at the outset. A memorial was,
however, presented to him, urging greater moderation.
Schiff scoffed at this memorial, denied the charge of cruelty,
and proceeded with his work until 1877, when, through the
revival of the agitation by the devoted Countess Baldelli,
he returned to Geneva. There he doubtless followed his
" profession '' until his death.

** The Handbook of the Physiological Laboratory," pub-
lished in 1873, liad, in the meantime, directed the attention
of the people of England to the extension of the practice
of vivisection in that country, and the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals prosecuted the Norwich
experimenters. During that same year a memorial urging
immediate efforts for the legal restriction of vivisection was
drawn up by Miss Frances Power Cobbe, and extensively
circulated, receiving many hundreds of signatures. This
was followed by the introduction of restriction bills in both
houses of Parliament, but the Royal Society not being
unanimous in regard to action upon this matter, both bills
were subsequently withdrawn.

In February, 1875, the first society in the world for the
abolition of vivisection was formed in London by Mr.
Jesse. In November following. Dr. George Hoggan and
Miss Cobbe, knowing the demand for abolition to be prac-
tically useless at that time, resolved to found a society " to

904 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

obtain the utmost possible protection for animals liable to
vivisection/' This was accomplished in the early part of
1876, and was followed by similar organizations in Ireland,
Scotland, and other countries of Europe, until now there
are fifty societies in the Old World and two in America ;
among them the great German League for the Prevention
of Scientific Animal Torture, the Scandinavian, the Irish,
the Scottish, the London, the French, the Swiss, the St.
Petersburg, the Dresden, the Friends*, the Netherlands'
anti-vivisection leagues ; anti-vivisection societies at CardiflF,
Wales, and at Bombay, India, and the Humanitarian League
in London.

Through the efforts of the Victoria Street Society a bill
for the restriction of vivisection received the royal signa-
ture and became an act, August 15, 1876. This bill was by
no means satisfactory to the opponents of vivisection, being
deemed entirely insufficient. As time passed their fears
were realized. The abuses connected with the practice
continued fully as aggravated as before, and now all the
societies not content with half-way measures af e demanding
unconditional abolition. They are officered and supported
financially by some of the noblest of names, including
church dignitaries- and royalty, and many of them are
steadily issuing series of publications, which are being
widely disseminated in both Europe and America.

The American Anti-Vivisection Society w^as founded at
Philadelphia in 1883, first for restriction, but later it
declared for abolition. A bill for the prohibition of class
demonstration passed the Pennsylvania Senate a short
time since, but was lost in the House. The society, how-
ever*, is undaunted, and is working with renewed vigor
toward its object.

The anti-vivisectionists believe, first, that no practical
value has accrued to the human race through experiments
upon living animals ; second, that if there has, the practice
is unjustifiable; third, that the debasing effect of the
studied practice of cruelty upon defenseless creatures far

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 905

outweighs in its evil effects the good that is claimed for it
by medical scientists ; and they can not comprehend the
necessity for repeating before classes of medical students
painful experiments, the results of which have already
been made known. They believe also that as other great
wrongs, which seemed as firmly rooted as this, have been
suppressed, so will vivisection be abolished, and once again
will the world witness the triumph of the higher humanity.

Die Jugendschutz — Report by Hanna Bieber-Boehm

OF Germany.

I stand before you as the president of the association
Jugendschutz in Berlin, which means, in English, protec-
tion to young people from the danger of impurity, which
destroys the happiness and health of mankind.

The practical part of our work is to provide homes for
honest young girls without means of making a living, and
without any one to support them. We make no discrimina-
tion among religions in the Jugendschutz, but teach girls
to understand that the essential is the same in all religions,
namely, to be good. Another purpose of the Jugendschutz
is to show to everybody the fearful dangers which are
threatening the happiness and health of our families.
Surely there is no mother in any country of the world who
is not glad to see her daughter married. But do these
mothers consider how many of their daughters when
married suffer from illness and disappointment by reason
of the fact that ninety-nine per cent of all young men live
impure and vicious lives before they marry ? Famous pro-
fessors of medicine — for instance, Noggerath and Ricord
— assert that eighty per cent of young men who lead
impure lives are infected with gonorrhea and syphilis
by those unfortunate girls who, with the permission of the
government, are submitted to the most infamous and degrad-
ing prostitution. These contagious diseases, which are a
thousand times more dangerous and fearful in their destruc-

906 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

tion than the cholera (as we are told by Professor Pehlman,
in Bonn, and others), are incurable, and are followed often-
times, even after many years have passed, by dreadful
abscesses, rotting off of various parts of the body, blind-
ness, drj'ing up of the marrow, madness, etc. The famous
Professor Schroeder of Berlin gave us the assurance that
most of the attacks of illness among women are the results
of the former vicious living of their husbands, the family
doctor concealing always this fast in order not to disturb
"conjugal peace,** as they call it. The same authority
traces back directly to hereditary syphilis all nervous dis-
eases of children, cramps, imbecility, dropsy of the head,
disease of the spine, and scrofula. Even more serious than
syphilis is gonorrhea, because this illness has not been
regarded as dangerous, and, therefore, has not been treated
so much. Doctor Noggerath of New York showed, in 1872,
the danger of this malady. He states that the malady is
incurable, and always, even if seemingly cured, infects the
wife. The truth of his statement is confirmed by many
famous physicians, as Henning, Lenger, Gusserow, Martin,
Fritsch, Hegar, Schwarz, McDonald, Lawson, Schroeder.
Olschansen, Kraft-Eling, Ribbing, and Torrel.

We ask with astonishment, how can it be possible that
nevertheless so many physicians degrade themselves by
aiding unconscientious men in the work of making thou-
sands of wives miserable ? Is it not time to lift the ethical
level of the profession ?

Will such explanations not induce even the most phleg-
matic of mothers to consider whether she has been a good
protectress of her family? Professor Ribbing says that
only a woman who knows what prostitution is understands
the danger eventually to be feared from a husband whose
moral purity is stained, whose health is destroyed, whose
manners are coarse, whose faithfulness can not be trusted,
whose sense of beauty is ruined ; she knows that her chil-
dren will inherit diseases and sexual concupiscence. She
must furthermore fear as a consequence of prostitution

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 907

many dangers and temptations for her sons, and the most
cruel disappointments and sufferings for her daughters.

Is it not the greatest nonsense for people to pretend that
prostitution is a protection to honest women ? It is false
that prostitution is a ** necessary evil,** and must be toler-
ated in order to satisfy the instinct of propagation in men.
We demand herewith that education and self-control shall
be applied to the instinct of propagation. Mankind must no
longer be injured by this instinct, which up to date has been
nursed and increased enormously in an artificial way, by
means of drinking spirituous liquors, by consuming too much
meat, by reading equivocal books, by visiting frivolous spec-
tacles and public houses. This demand agrees perfectly
with that of hygiene, which prescribes an absolutely pure
life for men and women before marriage, and absolute faith-
fulness during marriage, as the only possible assurance of
health. Professor Kraft-Eling says : " A large number of
young men of normal constitutions do desist from contenting
their instinct of propagation without injuring themselves
thereby." Osterlin reports : " Self-control can protect from
misfortune if based on fine moral sentiment, on pure sense,
proper judgment and education, and if supported by a proper
method of living and pure moral surroundings." Lionel
Reale of King s College in London says : "It can not be
taught too impressively that the most rigid abstemiousness
and purity is in accordance with the laws of physiology, and
that yielding to the wishes and desires can not be justified
by the physiological more than by the moral or religious
nature." Professor Ribbing assures us that during his
practice of twenty-nine years he did not find anybody who
claimed that it was impossible to control this instinct. Acton
declares in his famous chapter on " Continence and Incon-
tinence," that total abstinence from sexual intercourse can
be practiced by young unmarried men without danger to
their health." The College of Medicine of the University
of Christiana, in 1887, asserted that, ** The opinion that a pure
life and sexual continence are working injury to the health

908 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

of mankind is a great mistake. About this we are of the
same opinion. We do not know of any disease or debility
which can be traced back to a pure moral life."

We must use all our energy to reach a better moral edu-
cation for both sexes, but all of this labor will be of no
avail so long as we are governed by laws which, as far as
impurity is concerned, stand on the side of the wicked. So
long as any higher and bolder vocation is closed against
women, and the most uncleanly and injurious trade of pros-
titution is allowed, no moral education will be of avail. If
women had a seat in our parliament these shameful laws,
which are a disgrace to all the people of the world, never
would have existed. But as this is not the case we must do
for the present what we are able to do.

The Royal British Nurses* Association — Report by
Mrs. Bedford Fenwick of England.

The English nation will look back to the years 1854-1855
as the beginning of the changes in trained nursing ; before
that time our hospitals were worked primarily by the Sis-
ters of Mercy, who had but little theoretical knowledge of
hospital duties. The nursing of the sick was handed over
to women of the very lowest type, women who could get no
other work to do, the most demoralized of our sex. The
portraits drawn by Dickens of Mrs. Gamp and Betsy Prigg
were taken, I believe, from life.

The abuses in our hospitals called forth a better class of
workers. Cultured women some years ago began to under-
take the work, but it was found very arduous ; the food was
bad, the hours were long, and the companionship was de-
moralizing. Out of this system the regulations which are
enforced to-day arose, and only women of education, culture,
and the best physical and intellectual endowment are ac-
cepted. I may say that in one of the largest London hospitals
one thousand six hundred applications are now received from
educated women to fill from sixty to seventy vacancies.

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 909

The Royal British Nurses' Association is composed only
of medical men and nurses, and was formed in order to
unite all qualified British nurses in the membership of a
recognized profession, to provide for their registration on
terms satisfactory to physicians and surgeons, as evidence
of their having received systematic training, and to asso-
ciate them for their mutual help and protection, and for the
advancement, in every way, of their professional work.

There is no necessity to point out the immense advan-
tages of cooperation. Nurses, when they decide to combine,
only follow the example shown by nearly every other
profession, handicraft, and trade in which men are now
engaged, but they make almost a new departure, so far as
professional women are concerned, and for this reason their
union acquired the greater significance. The progress of
the association has been curiously watched in this and other
countries, as illustrative of an experiment which, if success-
ful, might have far-reaching effects in the encouragement
of cooperation among women employed in other spheres of
life. It may fairly be said that the progress of the associa-
tion hitherto has been more satisfactory than could have
been at first anticipated. In four years it has been joined
by more than three thousand nurses, and although many
have died, and more have for various reasons resigned, it
now has more than two thousand eight hundred members.

The first subject which engaged the attention of the
association was the most important question of the registra-
tion of trained nurses. The practice of enrolling upon a
general register the names of the members of any skilled
calling in order to distinguish them from persons who
assume the same title without any justification, is of admit-
ted utility and public benefit, and the principle of registra-
tion has frequently been sanctioned by Parliament. It was,
and unhappily still is, notorious that grave necessity exists
for the protection of the public, not only against ignorant
women terming themselves nurses, but also against well-
trained workers who have proved themselves to be entirely

69

910 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

unworthy of trust by drunkenness, or by the commission of
various grave offenses and crimes. In other professions
means exist whereby such discreditable characters can be
removed from the recognized ranks of the calling, and nurses
very fairly ask that similar powers shall be provided in order
that their profession may be cleared of persons who disgrace
it. After considerable discussion at meetings held in differ-
ent parts of the country, and after most careful considera-
tion, the association applied first to the General Medical
Council, and then to all the large hospitals in the United
Kingdom which train nurses, asking each, the former sepa-
rately and the latter collectively, to undertake the work of
registration. The General Medical Council declined to do
so, chiefly upon the ground that it had no power to under-
take such a scheme. With a few exceptions the hospitals
also declined, the majority of their governing bodies being
of opinion that it was no part of their duty to control nurses
who were not in their service. The association, in default
of all other help, therefore, undertook the work itself. It
appointed a very influential and representative registration
board, and opened a register of trained nurses, offering for
the first six months, as a period of grace, to enroll the
names of all who could prove that they had been in attend-
ance upon the sick for at least three years, and that they
were of unexceptionable character. Since June 30, 1890,
every candidate for registration has been required to prove
that she has had three years* hospital work and experience.
The most careful inquiries are made into each applicant's
character and work, and the board has the power to remove
from the register the name of any nurse who shall, after
full inquiries, be considered by the board to be unworthy to
remain thereon.

The advantages of this system to medical men, nurses,
hospitals, and the public are very great. The registers
being published annually, doctors are able to learn at a
glance when and where any registered nurse received her
hospital education ; whether, in fact, she has had special

INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL, AND MORAL REFORM. 911

experience or not in the cases for which she is needed.
Trained nurses are distinguished for the first time from
women who assume that title without being in any way
entitled to do so, and from those who bring discredit upon
nurses as a body. Hospitals which were formerly power-
less to protect the public against women who forge or steal
their certificates, or against nurses whom they have trained,
or perhaps even certificated, but who afterward proved
unworthy, are now protected to some extent against the
discredit which such persons reflect upon them. And the
public is benefited most, because, by demanding a regis-
tered nurse, they can now be protected as never before
against the many dangers to life and property which
ignorant or untrustworthy nurses can cause.

Beyond this important work, however, the association
seeks in various ways to help nurses. It has established a
benevolent fund from which pecuniary assistance is given
to members of at least two years' standing who are in need
of such aid. Pensions of twenty pounds a year each have
been established for members of not less than three years'
standing, who are past work and without sufficient means
of subsistence. In time it is hoped that this department
will grow to be of the greatest service to nurses in times of
adversity, sickness, or old age. The association holds six
meetings during each winter for the reading and discussion
of papers on nursing subjects, a conversazione in Decem-
ber in London, and the annual meeting in July in a pro-
vincial town. At the offices there is a reading-room and
library for the use of members, and a list of vacant appoint-
ments is also kept. The Nurses' Journal is sent, post free,
to every member once a quarter. In various other ways
now it benefits nurses, and by still other methods, as time
goes on, it will be able to advance their interests. In short,
the Royal British Nurses' Association can claim that, with
nearly three thousand members all over the world, and with
its record of accomplished work, its existence has been
already more than justified.

CHAPTER XV.— ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL

REFORM,

AS PRESENTED IN THE SUBORDINATE CONGRESSES.

Editorial Comment — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the
Young Ladies* Mutual Improvement Association, by Emily S.
Richards — Extracts from an Address Delivered in the Depart-
ment Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution, by
Mrs. Adlai E. Stevenson — Extracts from an Address Delivered
IN the Department Congress of the Woman's Relief Corps, by
Kate Brownlee Sherwood — Extracts from an Address Delivered
in the Department Congress of the Order of the Eastern Star,
BY Mary C. Snedden — Abstract of an Address Delivered in the
General Congress, by Rachel Foster Avery.

OF no Other subordinate Congresses were the managers
more painstaking in the preparation of their respect-
ive programmes than were the committees charged
with the control of the Department Congresses here repre-
sented. The report, of the Department Congress of the
Eastern Star, so carefully prepared and so generously sent
by Mrs. Lorraine J. Pitkin, merits special mention.

In numbers and in public influence the four organizations
herein reported are among th^ strongest in the countrj-.

It seems appropriate that the last pages of this historical
r6sum6 shall be filled with the last utterance of the Con-
gress. Therefore, the address of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery
is here reproduced. It serves to bind the subordinate
Congresses to the main Congress ; it seems not an echo but
a clear prolongation of the key-note of the great meeting,
the greatest significance of which lies in its recognition of
the fact that harmony is greater than melody; that not
merely is the whole greater than any of its parts, but that

(912)

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 913

a whole is greater than the sum of all its parts, inasmuch
as to the aggregated life of all its parts it adds its own
vitality.— [The Editor.]

The Legal and Political Status of Woman in Utah
—Address by Emily S. Richards of Utah.

The legal age of woman in Utah is eighteen years. She
possesses all the property rights enjoyed by man. She is
not only his equal in this respect, but, if a married woman,
she enjoys a marked advantage over her husband ; she not
only has power to possess property in her own right, which
she can control and dispose of without consulting her hus-
band, but she also has a dower right in his real property.
All women of legal age, whether married or single, have
the same right as men to acquire, hold, and dispose of all
kinds of property.

As early as 1872 the territorial Legislature provided that
all property owned by either spouse before marriage, or
acquired afterward by purchase, gift, bequest, devise, or
descent, with the rents, issues, and profits thereof, was the
separate property of that spouse by whom the same was
owned or acquired, and that separate property so owned or
acquired might be held, managed, controlled, transferred,
and in any manner disposed of by the spouse so owning or
acquiring it, without any restriction or limitation by reason
of marriage. The law also gave women the right to sue
and be sued. Under this statute a great many women
have acquired and held title to property in their own right,
and the percentage of such property owners is large as
compared with that in other States and Territories.

The causes for divorce in Utah are similar to those in
most States in the Union, and apply equally to men and
women. An actual residence of one year before the com-
mencement of the action is necessary to give the court
jurisdiction. Children that have attained the age of ten

914 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

years, and possess sound minds, have the privilege of electa
ing to which of their parents they will attach themselves.
Neither party is entitled to the custody of a child as of
right, but, other things being equal, if the child is a girl or
of tender years it shall be given to the mother. In all
cases the court makes an equitable distribution of the
property of the parties, and provides for the maintenance
of the wife and children.

From 1870 to 1887 women voted and held ofl&ces in Utah.
As an instance of the latter, Miss Ida lone Cook, who is not
unknown in educational circles in Chicago, was elected and
served as superintendent of public schools for Cache County.
Several women served as notaries public, and we have a
number of practicing attorneys who are women.

Woman suffrage was conferred by an act of the legisla-
tive assembly in 1870. The law provided that every woman
of the age of twenty-one years, bom or naturalized in the
United States, or who was the wife, widow or daughter of
a. native-born or naturalized citizen of the United States,
who had resided in the Territory six months next preced-
ing any general or special election, should have the right to
vote at any election. This privilege was taken away by an
act of Congress in 1887.

Though repeated efforts have been made to restore the
franchise, they have thus far been unavailing, as Congress
has the exclusive power to change the law. The sentiment
in the Territory favoring woman suffrage is believed to
be as strong now as when we were enfranchised, and it may
be confidently predicted that when the local government
regains the power to do so, women will be restored to their
political rights and privileges.

Socially, women enjoy all the privileges accorded to men.
All our educational institutions are open to them. They
are encouraged to practice law, medicine, and all the other
professions. They are at liberty to preach the gospel, speak
at public gatherings, visit the sick, and officiate at funerals.
Important educational positions are occupied by them, and

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 915

all the walks of life are open to them. Some are engaged
in business for themselves ; others, without opposition or
prejudice, occupy places as clerks, saleswomen, typewriters,
typesetters, bookbinders, factory operatives, telephone and
telegraph operators, photographers, and other suitable posi-
tions, in many of which they are taking the place of men.
The influence of woman is fully recognized. Her coop-
eration is sought in nearly all undertakings of a public,
political, or social character, and in whatever direction her
energies have been employed her attainments compare
favorably with those of men. The efforts and achievements
of our women are appreciated by the men, who give them
every encouragement and assistance in their various enter-
prises.

Response to an Address of Welcome — By Mrs. Adlai
E. Stevenson of Washington, D. C.

In response to the cordial invitation extended by the
World's Congress of Representative Women, under the
auspices of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress
Auxiliary, we are present to-day representing three thou-
sand of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a
national organization founded two and a half years ago.

It has been founded, as has been well said, upon a senti-
ment, the sentiment that cherishes and holds in sacred
reverence the traditions, faith, and achievements of our
revolutionary fathers.

It is therefore with both pleasure and pride that I greet
for the first time, and under these most pleasing and inspir-
ing circumstances, so large and representative a gathering
of the National Society of the Daughters of the American
Revolution.

As lineal descendants of the men and women who, for the
sake of political and religious liberty, faced undismayed the
dangers of the primeval forest and turned not back from
the perils of an inhospitable shore and an unfriendly race,

916 OJNGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

it is eminently meet that you have gathered in this now
historic hall and add your voice to the general rejoicing on
this natal day.

To the great discoverer whose genius and courage opened
the portals through which our fathers passed into an inher-
itance in this fair and fertile land, we accord all honor.

However, as Daughters of the American Revolution we
are bound by stronger ties to the brave men and heroic
women who, by their valor and patient endurance, achieved
American independence, and made possible for us these
sheltered homes and all the g^and possibilities which now
lie within the reach of the women of this centur)\ How
firm their purpose and how faithful the performance, his-
torian and poet have Wed to tell.

Just now a new interest has been awakened, and middle-
aged men and women, no less than the lads and lassies, are
turning to moldy tomes and neglected tombs to learn what
deed of chivalry performed by a forgotten ancestor entitles
them to honorable enrollment among the Sons or Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution.

It is well that in the mad rush of modem American life
we can pause and ask from whom and whence came the
mighty powers which have stirred the nations and have
placed America in the foremost rank of the nations of the
earth?

With a new Liberty Bell soon to be sprung into existence
by the magic touch of the fair hand of the mistress of the
White House, and then to speed upon its mission of pro-
claiming liberty to the world ; with the bright prospect of
a continental hall or home — whether to be shared with the
Sons or not I am not advised — and the still higher ambi-
tion of assisting in establishing a University of the United
States in compliance with Washington's farewell sugges-
tion, the Daughters of the American Revolution have every
incentive to earnest endeavor, and I believe a few years will
see the fullest realization of their aspiration.

May I add one thought in closing. In all that you under

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 917

take, in all that you do. ** think of your forefathers ; think
of your posterity."

The Past, Present, and Future of the Woman's
Relief Corps— Address by Kate Brownlee Sher-
wood OF Ohio.

The first essential of the Woman's Relief Corps is frater-
nity— the fraternity of loyalty which knows the flag,
reverences its defenders, and cherishes the memory of
their heroic deeds.

The second essential of the Woman's Relief Corps is
charity — " Charity toward all, and malice to none," in the
words of Abraham Lincoln. Especially do they assist the
Grand Army of the Republic and such other Union vet-
erans as need their help and protection. They give need-
ful aid to their widows and orphans, finding them homes
and employment.

The third essential of the Woman's Relief Corps is
loyalty, and upon this their fraternity is based. It is the
loyalty which has its root in the Declaration of Independ-
ence itself, enjoining all members to true allegiance to the'
United States of America, to the inculcation of the love of
liberty and country in the hearts of their children, and to
encourage the spread of liberty and equal rights to all.
Loyalty and correct deportment are the sole qualifications
for membership in the Woman's Relief Corps, and its one
hundred and thirty-five thousand members include women
of every race and nationality within the Union.

It is with honorable pride that we claim to be the direct
heritors of the first national association of women in the
United States, organized in 1861, under the auspices of the
Ladies' Aid Society, to render aid and comfort to the Union
soldiers engaged in putting down the rebellion — a society
which taught American women the power of organization.
Lincoln's call for volunteers, April 15, 1861, enlisted the
women with the men.

918 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

The loyal women of America fought as great battles and
won as signal victories in 1861-65 as did the Army of the
Potomac beating at the gates of Richmond, or Sherman's
army thundering its way from Lookout Mountain to the
sea. The work of the Soldiers* Aid Societies, finding
expression through the Sanitary Commission, was many
sided.

Untried and without experience, without capital and
without credit, women projected their enterprises, and they
counted their profits by the millions. The darker the
hours the brighter their hope ; the greater the needs the
swifter the response.

At a meeting of the Sanitary Commission in Washing-
ton, Abraham Lincoln said : "I am not accustomed to the
language of eulogy, I have never studied the art of paying
compliments to women, but I must say that if all that has
been said by orators and poets since the creation of the
world in praise of women were applied to the women of
America, it would not do them justice for their conduct
in this war."

April 6, 1866, the year following the war, the Grand Army
of the Republic was organized, and as the order spread,
local aid societies of women were organized as auxiliaries.
Three years later the first Woman's Relief Corps was
organized by the soldiers of Portland, Maine. Like soci-
eties were instituted elsewhere in New England, nearly all
opening their doors to all loyal women, and in 1871 Massa-
chusetts organized a State department, other New England
States following. In Ohio and other Western States aid
societies were formed, as posts of the Grand Army felt the
need of woman's work.

In July, 1883, following a call from Commander-in-Chief
Paul Van Dervoost, by authority of the Fifteenth Annual
Encampment of the G. A. R., representatives of the various
women's organizations, east and west, met at Denver,
Col., in connection with the Seventeenth National Encamp-
ment, and formed a national association known as the

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 919

" Woman's Relief Corps Auxiliary of the Grand Army of
the Republic." Fifty-six women became charter members.
This great Columbian year the Woman's Relief Corps has
a total membership of one hundred and thirty-five thousand,
divided into two thousand six hundred and eighty-six corps
in thirty-five States and Territories, and has raised and
expended in relief a cash aggregate of nearly one million
dollars.

The Woman's Relief Corps has assisted largely, through
petition and direct influence, in securing just pension laws
for the relief of the Union Soldiers, their widows and
orphans ; and alone and unaided secured the passage by the
fifty-third Congress of the bill for the relief of army
nurses, after eight years of unflagging work. They have
built and are carrying on the National Relief Corps Home
at Geneva, Ohio, for soldiers' widows, mothers, and army
nurses, and dependent soldiers and their wives. They have
built, by States or departments, the Memorial Home in
Pennsylvania, the Evergreen Home in California, and the
Woman's Annex to the Soldiers' Home in Michigan. They
contribute largely to the support of the Soldiers' Home in
Massachusetts, and are furnishing hospital comforts, books,
and pictures to the Soldiers' Homes and Soldiers' Orphans'
Homes of New Hampshire, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Kan-
sas, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington,
California, and other States.

Systematic, concerted movement in connection with
school authorities in this line of patriotic, educational
work has been inaugurated by the Woman's Relief Corps,
which promises to be a fixed propaganda for the dis-
semination of republican principles underlying our free
government.

With our large influx of illiterate and ignorant for-
eigners, and the rapid enrollment of their children in our
public schools, the momentous issues hanging upon a move-
ment like this are readily seen. Though the first aims of
the Woman's Relief Corps are defined in its auxiliaryship

920 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

to the Grand Army of the Republic, yet its platform is so
broad that the organization will be perpetuated long after
the last veteran of the Union has answered to the final
roll-call.

The Eastern Star, Its Origin, Progress, and Develop-
MENT — Address by Mary C. Snedden of Missouri.

Certain landmarks or laws in Masonry were handed down
from age to age and from generation to generation, no one
knowing whence they originated and no one having the
right to alter or change; but all Masons were bound to
obey them. Among these landmarks we find that no
woman may become a member of the craft.

How, then, came women to be associated with this exclu-
sive brotherhood of masons? And what is the relationship
existing between the Masonic fraternity and the Order of
the Eastern Star ?

The changes in the intellectual relations of men and
women that have come with this generation have had their
influence even in this ancient order, and have made our
order possible. Every age has its John the Baptist. Such
a one was Robert Morris, the founder of the American
Rite of Adoptive Masonry. Robert Morris was made a
Mason in 1846, and at once became so intensely alive to the
beauties of its symbolic teachings that his whole life was
given up to the study of Masonry. He married, and his
desire was that his wife should go with him in these paths
of beauty. In their studies and researches they found
many side degrees, where the wife or daughter of a Mason
was given some sign and password whereby she might
make herself known to a Mason if in distress.

The idea grew with him, and from 1850 to 1855 he com-
municated to Masons and their women relatives five degrees
and called them the Eastern Star. These degrees were
based on an old French rite. No organizations were formed-

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 921

It was simply a social degree usually conferred after the
lectures. A banquet was often spread, and Masons* wives
met with Masons in a Masonic hall.

He soon became so far advanced in his ideas as to form
organizations called constellations, which received charters
from a Supreme Grand Constellation, of which he was the
Supreme Grand Luminary. But few of these constellations
were formed, and they were of short life. The parapher-
nalia was expensive, the ceremonies too dramatic and com-
plicated.

Finding the work not practical in this form he undertook
to simplify it, and published a manual entitled ** Families
of the Eastern Star." This was used from 1859 ^^ ^868 by
himself and other Masonic lecturers, who thus communi-
cated the degrees. The system was lacking in that there
was no permanent organization, but the germ was there,
and from it has evolved the order of to-day. Others saw
the beauties and possibilities of the Eastern Star.

The first successful organization was formed in Michigan,
in 1866, working under ** Tatem's Ritual." The Lodges
were called " Eastern Star Lodges of Adoptive Masonry."
A Grand Lodge also was formed which tendered its alle-
giance to the General Grand Chapter in 1880.

In 1876 there were Grand Chapters in Michigan, New
Jersey, New York, Mississippi, California, Vermont, Indi-
ana, Connecticut, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas,
Kansas, and Massachusetts.

The organization of these bodies and the publication of
their proceedings revealed the fact that although the East-
ern Star was founded upon a practical system, serious and
growing evils had resulted from the peculiar method of
growth as a system and extension. The publication of the
different rituals, and revised editions thereof, had brought
confusion in council and diversity of work, where there
should have been unity and uniformity.

July 15, 1 875, in the Grand Chapter of Mississippi, a reso-
lution was adopted to this effect : That uniformity of ritual

922 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

was essential to the future success of the order, and that
delegates be appointed from the several Grand Chapters,
and that a convention of these delegates be called to con-
sider the formation of a national organization that should
have absolute and supreme control over the ritual and
lectures of the Adoptive Rite. This was followed by simi-
lar resolutions in other Grand Chapters.

April 6, 1876, the Grand Chapter of Indiana extended an
invitation to all the Grand Chapters of the order to meet in
Indianapolis, for the purpose of organizing said supreme
organization. The invitation was accepted, and the con-
vention resulted in the organization of the General Grand
Chapter, November 16, 1876. At this first gathering of
Eastern Star members, from the different sections of our
country, there was much enthusiasm. A constitution was
adopted and a ritual committee appointed.

At the second meeting, May, 1878, the ritual was adopted.
The third session was held in Chicago, August 20, 1880.
Since its organization the growth and development of the
order has been gradual and satisfactory.

The General Grand Chapter has provided an unobjec-
tionable method of extension into unoccupied territory. It
exercises the right of domain over all States and Territories
where no Grand Chapter exists, until the formation of one
therein.

There are chapters under the immediate jurisdiction of
the General Grand Chapter in Alabama, Arizona, Florida,
Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, North Dakota, New Mexico,
Louisiana, West Virginia, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, Utah, and Washington, D. C.

This is a proud showing for sixteen years' growth. In
1 876 a few scattered chapters, using many rituals, with no
method of extension; in 1893 nearly one thousand three
hundred chapters and about seventy-five thousand members.

When individuals come together and form an organiza-
tion they have an object in view. When the Eastern Star
was conceived its founder sought to create a social tie

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 923

between Masons and their families. He did not claim, nor
have we ever claimed, that the Eastern Star was any part
of Masonry, that any of its cherished secrets were g^iven to
us. He sought to give the fraternity a helpmeet in all the
beneficent work of the order. We believe we are justified
in saying that the order has been of help and has reached
a higher standard of usefulness than Robert Morris ever
hoped for in his fondest dreams. Among the objects for
which we are associated together are the caring for the
widow and orphan, and assisting the great brotherhood in
all deeds of mercy and love.

Since woman has worked hand in hand with her Masonic
brother a g^eat impetus has been given to the building of
Masonic Homes, and there are now successful homes in
Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, New York,
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia,
with prospects of several others very soon.

These homes are such in name and deed. Here worthy
but unfortunate Masons, their wives, widows, and children,
find a safe retreat, where they are surrounded with all the
comforts and conveniences of a home in every sense. They
receive every care, and when sickness comes the best
medical treatment is given, and their declining years are
made as bright and comfortable as human love can make
them.

The inmates are as one family, free from the feeling of
dependence that is felt in a public institution, and is so
repugnant to a sensitive soul. They come as fathers and
children, and are received as objects of personal love. In
this noble work our order has not been officially recognized,
but we have worked patiently, willingly, and quietly, trying
thus to prove to our Masonic brothers the good there is in
us, firmly believing that time will give us all we crave.
And the time is coming, for already one grand jurisdiction
has placed us side by side with the Grand Royal Arch Chap-
ter, Grand Commandery Knights Templar, and Scottish
Rite. Kansas has placed two members from each of these

924 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

on its Masonic Home board of directors, and also g^ves two
to the Eastern Star, and one of these a woman. It has gone
further than this, and says the orphan children of members
of the Eastern Star shall be admitted, even though the
fathers were not Masons. I am proud that Kansas leads in
this.

Our order is often spoken of as a woman's order, but from
the nature of our organization — owing our origin, life, and
usefulness to the Masonic fraternity — it is not such. All
Master Masons in good standing are eligible to membership,
and on our rolls have ever been found the names of the best
and noblest of the fraternity, who, when we came with
uncertain step and timidly craved permission to enter the
sacred portals of the Masonic hall, threw open its doors and
bade us welcome. But for their influence, support, and
cooperation we should never have achieved success.

It is pleasant to know that the founder and patriarch,
Robert Morris, gave the General Grand Chapter his sanction
and approval. At the third session, 1880, he was an hon-
ored guest, and was made an honorary member ; and his
birthday anniversary, August 31st, was made the Festal
Day of the order.

Organization and its Relation to the International
AND National Councils of Women— An Address by
Rachel Foster Avery of Pennsylvania, Corres-
ponding Secretary of the National Council of
Women.

The great meeting which is just closing has shown a
grand pageant of the organized work of woman, filing
majestically before us day after day.

It would seem as if woman had reached out her hand
and taken possession of the intellectual and spiritual realms
to show to mankind the power of organized womanhood.

But this meeting is to the meeting which is planned for

ORDERS, CIVIL AND POLITICAL REFORM. 926

five years hence what a disorderly rout is to the march of
an army. Strongholds which, to the undisciplined forces
of free-lances, seem impregnable, promptly haul down their
banners and send out their flags of truce on the approach
of a disciplined, well-trained, well-oflficered army.

When it was first proposed, eight years ago, by Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, that in 1888 there should be held in this
country an International Woman Suffrage meeting to com-
memorate the grand beginning in 1848 of the struggle
toward woman's full emancipation, the timid hesitated,
thinking even that a great undertaking, demanding more
money, time, and labor than could be found to devote to it ;
but the woman whom we all delight to honor, the leader of
the suffrage forces, Susan B. Anthony, she — the undaunted
one — resolved that it should be. She developed the orig-
inal thought into the idea of an International Council, to
which all women should be summoned to bring their
reports of progress along all lines, to compare together the
work and the gains of the past forty years. This resulted
in the International Council of 1888.

When, in 1888, delegations of women came to us from
seven other countries, and from ovet forty associations in
our own and other lands, May Wright Sewall developed
still further the plan, and conceived the magnificent thought
of permanent organizations of women, national and inter-
national, which should form grand clearing-houses for ideas.

Acted upon by the delegates then present, this concep-
tion crystallized into the National Council of Women of the
United States and the International Council of Women.

These bodies, oflficered by leading women of America
and of Europe, have been found to be the proper vehicle for
expressing the highest attainments of organizations among
women. These together, the National and the Inter-
national, have been the willing co-workers with the
Woman's Branch of the Congress Auxiliary to give to the
world the World's Congress of Representative Women.

To thousands of women the International Council of 1888

60

926 CONGRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.

came as a revelation, broadening their horizon, uplifting
them to higher mental and spiritual planes.

The Congress of Representative Women should bring
this same great boon of mental breadth and uplifting to
many thousands more.

From the individual woman working alone, through all
the links of the local organizations, county, state, and
national, along one line of work to the National Council,
inclusive of the lines of the International, inclusive of all
nationalities, women have now perfected a strong and flaw-
less chain — a chain with which womanhood can bind the
whole world together in peace and unity.

The motto of the National Council of Women of the
United States is " Lead, Kindly Light." The design is a
light upheld by a delicate hand ; not a blazing, swiftly-
consuming torch, but a light burning quietly and constantly
before the altar of humanity, before which the united
womanhood of the world pays its tribute.

What the International Council of Women may come to
be is for the future to decide, but when we look back five
years and see the immense gain in the organized work of
women, we can not doubt that the prophecy of this meeting
is that five years hence there will exist materialized what
now exists in the brain of the woman who has managed this
congress — a grand International Congress of Women, com-
posed of delegates from all civilized countries, sitting for a
part of each year, considering all questions between nations,
throwing the influence of a united womanhood in favor of
better conditions for humanity, better educational opportu-
nities for the world's children, and in favor of that equality
between man and woman which shall give to man the high
privilege of living, not with his social and political inferiors,
but with his social and political equals, which shall lend its
influence toward peace and the healing of the nations.

EDITOR'S CONCLUDING NOTE.

When the chairman of the Committee on Organization entered into a
contract to edit the volumes now presented to the public, it must be con-
fessed that she had an inadequate conception of the difficulties which would
arise in the execution of her task. In the first place she expected to receive
from the officers of the Congress Auxiliary complete and accurate reports of
all addresses delivered in the '• World's Congress of Representative
Women." A cursory examination of the records turned over to her by these
officers resulted in the discovery of many and grave errors. This must not
be interpreted as an implied criticism of the official management of the
Auxiliary or of the reporters employed by it. In the unfinished building,
wherein the sound of the workman's hammer still lingered, mingled with
the whistling and bell-ringing of the locomotives and the rumbling of trains
over adjacent railroad tracks, the reporters labored under disadvantages
which rendered accuracy impossible. Hence a letter was sent at once to
every participant in the General Congress, inviting her, in behalf of histor-
ical accuracy, to send a copy of her address or report to the editor.

Many of the participants in the Congress responded to this appeal by
sending their original manuscripts or carefully corrected type-written copies
of them; many more, however, expressed their entire willingfness to be rep-
resented by the editor's revision of the official reports of their work.

Accuracy would have required that every participant in the Cong^ress
should have had an opportunity to correct the proof of her own address;
but the large number of the participants, and the extent of the territory
over which they were scattered, together with the necessity for haste,
rendered this impossible.

It is to be hoped that these considerations will secure the indjilgence of
both contributors and readers respecting errors which under the circum-
stances are inevitable. That the second edition of this work may be
amended, the editor further begs that the author of each address, report,
paper, or discussion herein presented will send to her corrections of all
errors noted.

Although it was at first intended that these volumes should concern
themselves with only the General Congress and the Report Congresses a
preliminary inspection of material showed that no adequate conception of
the character and scope of the great Congress could be given by a report
which did not include the Department Congresses also. Inasmuch as the
Congress Auxiliary was in no way responsible for reports of Department
Congresses, the editor was compelled to collect all of the documents per-
taining to such Congresses by personal effort. A letter asking for a copy

(«7)

928 editor's concluding note.

of her contribution was sent to every woman whose name appeared on the
Department Congress programmes. That no pains might be spared in the
effort to secure a fair representation of the work of every organization hold-
ing a Department Congress, a letter was sent also to the president and
secretary ot each such organization suggesting to them the collection and
revision of the addresses given in their Department Congress.

In a majority of cases the participants in Department Congresses sent
copies of their addresses directly to the editor, giving her carte blanche
respecting their use. In a few instances the secretary or some other official
of an organization collected and edited the papers given in its Congress.
In this connection special mention should be made of the painstaking labor
of Sarah A. Stewart, secretary of the International Kindergarten Union;
Mary G. Burdette, secretary of the Women's Baptist Home Missionary
Society; Elizabeth B. Grannis, president of the National Christian League
for the Promotion of Social Purity; Lorraine J. Pitkin, secretary of the
Order of the Eastern Star; Lily A. Toomy, secretary of the Catholic
Women's Department Congress; Katherine Hodges, secretary of the
American Protective Society of Authors; and Rachel Foster Aver\', cor-
responding secretary of the National Council of Women of the United
States; all of whom prepared admirable abstracts of the proceedings of the
Department Congresses of their respective organizations.

In order that the two volumes now completed should present an adequate
history of the General Congress, two considerations were essential: first,
that every paper given in the General Congress itself should be presented
in whole or in part; second, that every subordinate Congress should be
represented by at least one paper. These conditions have been observed.

All of the papers given in the subordinate Congresses have been care-
fully edited, and will be published later in a separate volume, making a
third volume uniform with the two now offered to the public.

It is hoped that the editor's desire to be entirely fair in endeavoring to
present a balanced record of the work of woman will be attested by these
volumes. If the representative of any organization should feel that it has
been inadequately treated, let her attribute the unfortunate fact to the neces-
sary limit of this work, and credit the editor with an unremitting effort to
give all societies an equal showing. The four organizations with which the
editor is most closely associated are the Association of Collegiate Alumnse*
the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the National American Woman
Suffrage Association, and the National Council of Women of the United
States. Each of the first three of these organizations is represented in
these pages by one paper only, read in its Department Congress, while the
Department Cong^ss held by the last-named organization finds no mention
here. It is the hope of the editor that these facts will be accepted as final
proof that she has not availed herself of the opportunities of her position to
magnify the importance of the lines of work which command her warmest
interest.

MAY WRIGHT SEWALL.

APPENDIX.

A.

The following is an extract from a letter sent to the Committee of Twelve
Hundred, referred to in Chapter I :

The Committee of Arrangements desires that this great opportunity shall be used in
the way that will further the highest interests of humanity. It therefore is anxious that
the programme shall be prepared with the greatest discrimination, and to this end is
asking leaders in the various departments of work, the world over, to aid it by answer-
ing the following questions:

First. What subjects will you suggest for discussion in the World's Congress of
Representative Women?

Second. What women will you suggest to write papers, or lead in the discussion
of the subjects suggested?

It must be understood that the committee will find it impossible to place all of the
subjects and all of the writers presented, in response to the above inquiries, upon the
programme, but it solicits you to make your lists of both subjects and writers as full as
you may desire, and will be very g^rateful for a prompt response to this appeal.

B.

Sur la proposition de Mme. May Wright Sewall, d61^gu6e du Grand Con-
sell des Femmes Am^ricaines, la resolution suivante est vot^e:

Persuade que I'organisation et la reunion fr6quente des femmes dans chaque pays
favoriseraient les efforts qui ont pour but de provoquer la mise en pratique de cette
justice nationale, de cette morality et de cette philanthropie plus 6\ev6e qui caract6r-
isent le XIX sidcle; persuade aussi que I'union des femmes de toutes les nations pro^
duirait le m6me effet dans le monde entier, le Congrds Approuve la Pondation d'un )
Conseil International Permanent de Femmes. ^

c.

CONFERENCES AND CONFERENCE COMMITTEES.

The Congress has been, in a sense, divided into eight departments, to
each of which has been assig^ned, during the entire week of its session, a
conference hall, as follows:

Conferences on Education, - - - - Hall XXVII.

Conferences on Industry', Hall XXI.

Conferences on Literature and Art, - - Hall XXVIII.

(909)

930 APPENDIX.

Conferences on Philanthropy and Charity, - Hall XX.

Conferences on Moral and Social Reform, - Hall XXXII.

Conferences on Religion, Hall XXII.

Conferences on Civil Law and Government, Hall XXXI.

Conferences on Science and Philosophy, - Hall XXX.
Each of these conference halls is in charge of a conference committee,
some members of which will be found there each day from 9 to 10 a. m. and
from 12.30 to 8 p. m. These ladies will receive and introduce all visitors to
their conference hall, and will arrange for informal conferences^ subject in
each department to the chairman of the committee.

When formal meetings are arranged for conference halls, notices of these
arrangements will be sent by a member of the sub-committee in charge
immediately to the Bureau of Information, after conference with the chair-
man of the committee. There they will be duplicated and copies sent to
the presiding officers in all meetings then in session. These officers are
requested to make announcements of these notices, which will, in all cases,
be signed by the secretary of the Congress, Rachel Foster Avery. In this
way conferences will at once be made known to all audiences assembled in
the Art Palace.

GENERAL REPORTS.

One department of the Congress work which will not appear until the
printed reports are issued is a great series of general reports upon the
eight departments mentioned above. The writers of these reports have
been secured from among the most eminent women of the various countries
represented. The list is not entirely completed, but will be filled before the
reports are issued at the close of the series of congresses. The names of
the writers of these reports are given under the eight departments of the
Cong^ss, in conjunction with the conference committees of said depart-
m.ents, as follows:

EDUCATION.

Conference Commt//ee.— ChtLiTmsai, Susan Rhoda Cutler. Members: Isabel How-
land, Lydia M. Dame, Elizabeth Porter, Sarah A. Stewart, Marion Talbot, Mary R.
Chappell, Susan C. Ballard, Rev. Amanda Deyo, Prof. Ellen D. Hayes, Mary E. Garret,
Mary C. Snedden, Sarah B. Cooper, Helen L. Webster, Nebraska Cropsey, Prof. Rena
Michaels, Lucinda H. Stone, Martha Foote Crow, Carolyn H. Talcott, M. Carey Thomas.

Genera/ Jfefior/s.— Helen L. Webster, United States ; Nellie Spence, B. A., Canada;
Helene Lansrc Germany; Dr. Marie Popelin, Belsrium; Emilia Mariani, Italy; Charlotte
B. Wilbour (included in fireneral report), Egypt; Mary M. Patrick (included in general
report), Turkey; Umd Tsuda (included in general report), Japan; Dr. Emilie Kempin
(included in general report), Switzerland.

INDUSTRY.

Conference Commt //ee.— Ch&irm&n, Jane Addams. Members: Florence Kelley,
Eva McDonald Valesh, Mary Glennon, Ellen Gates Starr, Elizabeth Taylor, Corinne S.
Brown, Mary E. Kenncy, Frances McNamara, Belva M. Herron, Miss Brown, Mrs.
Morgan, Alzina Parsons Stevens.

General Jfepor/s.— hilian Whiting, United States, Woman in Journalism; Ada M.
Bitten bender, United States, Woman in Law; Edith J. Archibald, Canada; Madame
Hector Denis, Belgium; Charlotte B. Wilbour (included in general report), Egirpt; Mary
M. Patrick (included in general report), Turkey; Um6 Tsuda (included in general
report), Japan; Dr. Emilie Kempin (included in general report), Switzerland.

APPENDIX. 931

LITERATURE AND ART.
Conference Committee.— Chairmen: Emily Sartain, Art; Annie Nathan Meyer, Liter-
ature. Members: Charlotte Fisk Bates (Mme. Rog£), Louise E. Francis, Mary Hart-
well Catherwood, Alice Williams Brotherton, Lucy Monroe, Lilian Whiting, Mrs. Sum-
ner Ellis, Helena Modjeska, Florence Elizabeth Corey, Jennie C. Croly, Mrs. Noble

B. Judah, Jean Pond Miner, Mrs. Henry L. Frank, Caroline Kirkland, Fanny Hale
Gardiner.

General Reports.— Vlotence Fenwick Miller, England; Mile. Leonine La Fontaine,
Belgium; Charlotte B. Wilbour (included in general report), Egypt; Mary M. Patrick
(included in general report), Turkey; Um^ Tsuda (included in general report), Japan;
Dr. Emilie Kempin (included in general report), Switzerland.

PHILANTHROPY AND CHARITY.

Conference Committee.— ChaiiTraAn^ Lillian M. N. Stevens. Members: Mrs. Judge
Foster, Ida M. Weaver, Sara L. Obcrholtzer, Mrs. A. G. Pettibone, Mary J. Aldrich,
Amelia S. Quinton, Mrs. O. W. Potter, Rachel Hickey Carr, M. D., Mabel Blanche Kohl-
saat, Mary A. Newton, Harriet G. Walker, Marian Mead, Augusta Merrill Hunt, E.
Augusta Russell, Gertrude M. Bundy, Mrs. Fairchild Allen.

General Reports.— Lillian M. N. Stevens, United States; Mrs. John Harvie, Canada;
Regina Terruzzi, Italy; Charlotte B. Wilbour (included in general report), Egypt; Mary
M. Patrick (included in general report), Turkey; Um6 Tsuda (included in general
report), Japan; Dr. Emilie Kempin (included in general report), Switzerland.

MORAL AND SOCIAL REFORM.
Conference Committee.— OnaArm&n^ Mrs. E. B. Grannis. Members: Margaret Isabel
Sandes, Mrs. Arthur Smith, Alice Stone Black well, Mrs. M. R. M. Wallace, Maria Y.
Dougal, Virginia Thrall Smith, Dr. Jennie de la M. Lozier, Frank Stuart Parker, Mrs.

C. B. Sawyer, Octavia W. Bates, Caroline M. Severance, Harriet A. Lincoln Coolidge,
Esther Pugh, Estelle Turrell Smith, HaVriet Newall Kneeland Goff, Clara C. Ho£fman,
Anna Byford Leonard, Annie Jenness Miller, Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Dr. Allen
Brooks, Emma Parker.

General Reports.— "Lncy M. Coad, Canada; Dr. Marie Popelin, Belgium; Fanny
Zampini Salazar, Italy; Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland; Charlotte B. Wil-
bour (included in general report), Egypt; Mary M. Patrick (included in general report),
Turkey; Um6 Tsuda (included in general report), Japan; Dr. Emilie Kempin (included
in general report), Switzerland.

RELIGION.

Conference Committee.- Chairman, Jane Bancroft Robinson. Members: Mrs. John
Hoodless, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Mrs. Norman Gassette, Mrs. B. Ward Dix, Rev. Ada C.
Bowles, Rev. Florence Kollock, Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, M. Louise Thomas, Rev. Ida
C. Hultin, Mrs. James S. Dickerson, Mrs. John F. Unger, May L. Gibbs, Rev. Mila F.
Tupper, Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Rev. Jeanette L. Olmstead, Louise A. Chap-
man, Mrs. William Boyd, Rev. Lorenza Haynes, Mary G. Burdette, Frances Stewart
Mosher, Mary Lowe Dickinson.

General Reports.— Key. Juanita Breckinridge, United States; Madame Nyst, Bel-
gium; Virginia Fornari, Italy; Lilli Lilius, Finland; Charlotte B. Wilbour (included in
general report), Egypt; Mary M. Patrick (included in general report), Turkey; Um6
Tsuda (included in general report), Japan; Dr. Emilie Kempin (includ^ in general
report), Switzerland.

CIVIL LAW AND GOVERNMEN'

Conference Committee.— Chaiivmain, Carrie Lane Chapman. Members : Myra Brad-
well, Bessie Bradwell Helmer, Louisa M. Southworth, Mary E. Holmes, Mary Desha,
Effle Henderson, Mary A. Ahrens, Cecilia Hedenberg, Mrs. William D. Cabell, Sui
Look Avery, Ada M. Bittenbender, Susan B. Anthony, Lillie Devereaux BlakeyTTB.
Fearing, Rosa Miller Avery, J. Ellen Foster, E. McGregor Burt, Lucy Stone, Ada C.
Sweet, Abby Soule Schumacher, Helen P. Jenkins, Dr. Augusta Stowe GuUen.

General Reports.— Ellen Battelle Dietrick, United Sutes ; Alice Cliff Scatcherd,

932

APPENDIX.

England ; Elizabeth Ldfgren, Finland ; Dr. Marie Popelin, Belgium ; Charlotte B. Wil-
bour (included in f^eneral reports Eg>i>t ; Mary M. Patrick (included in general report),
Turkey ; Um« Tsuda (included in general report), Japan ; Dr. Emilie Kempin (included
in general report), SwiUerland.

SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY.

Conference CommiZ/ee.— Ch&irmAn, Mary H. Wilmarth. Members: Caroline K.
Sherman, Katharine B. Claypole, Helen H. Gardener, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell,
Alice C. Fletcher, Laura S. Wilkinson. Mrs. Frederick A. Smith, Mrs. D. L. Shorey,
Mrs. W. A. Kellerman, Dr. Mary B. Moody, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Marianna P.
Seaman, Dr. Frances Emily White. Nellie Halsted, Mrs. H. F. Eddy, Mrs. A. P. S.
Stuart, Annie S. Peck, Dr. Frances Crane.

General Reports.— Dr. Frances Emily White, United States, Woman in Medicine;
Dr. Emily Irvine, Canada; Marchesa Vincenjina de Felice-Lancellotti, Italy; Charlotte
B. Wilbour (included in general report), Egypt; Mary M. Patrick (included in general
report), Turkey; Um£ Tsuda (included in general report), Japan; Dr. Emilie Kempin
(included in general report), Switzerland.

HOME ADVISORY COUNCIL.

Clara Barton,Vice-Pre«ident International
Council of Women.

Rachel Foster Avery, Corresponding Sec-
retary International and National Coun-
cils of Women.

May W* right Sewall, President National
Council of Women.

Frances E. Bagley, Vice-President Na-
tional Council of Women.

Mary F. Eastman, Honorary Vice-Presi-
dent National Council of Women.

Isabella Charles Davis, Recording Secre-
tary National Council of Women.

Lillian M. N. Stevens, Treasurer National
Council of Women.

Susan B. Anthony, President National
American Woman Suffrage Association.

Cordelia A. Quinby, President Woman's
Centenary Association of the Univers-
alist Church.

Frances E. Willard, President National
Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Mary A. Davis, President National Free
Baptist Woman's Missionary Society.

Mrs. M. R. M. Wallace, President Illinois
Industrial Reform School for Girls.

Zina D. H. Young, President National
Woman's Relief Society.

Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, President of
W imodaughsis.

Dr. Jennie de la M. Lozier, Pres't of Sorosis.

Blmina S. Taylor, President Young Ladies*
National Mutual Improvement Associa-
tion.

Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi.

Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska.

Mary Clement Leavitt.

Myra Bradwell.

Helen Campbell.

Grace Dodge.

M. French-Sheldon.

Ursula N. Gestefeld.

Margaret Ravenhill.

Fanny B. Ames.

Alice C. Fletcher.

Anna Rice Powell.

Frances E. RusselL

An;:ie Jenness Miller.

Jane Field Bashford.

Nebraska Cropsey.

Dr. Caroline E. Hastings.

Christine Ladd Franklin.

Mrs. Bishop Simpson.

Clara Conway.

May Rogers.

Annie Nathan Meyer.

Nina Morais Cohen.

Kate Douglas Wiggin.

Louise E. Francis.

Clara L. McAdow.

Emma J. BartoL

Ellen Battelle Dietrick, RepresenUtive of
National Columbian Household Eco-
nomic Association.

Mrs. Samuel W. McCaulley.

Mrs. Miles Sells, Representative of later*
national Board of Women's Christian
Associations.

APPENDIX.

933

Elisabeth B. Grannis, President Xational
. Christian League for the Promotion of
Social Parity.

Rev. Amanda Deyo, Corresponding Secre-
tary Universal Peace Union.

Sarah B. Cooper, President International
Kindergarten Union.

J. Ellen Foster, President Woman's Re-
publican Association of the United
States.

E. McGregor Burt, President National
Association of Loyal Women of Ameri-
can Liberty.

Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Representative
of Pacific Coast Woman's Press Associa-
tion.

Ellen J. Phinney, President Xon-Partisan
National Woman's Christian Temper-
ance Union.

Mrs. E. S. Yockey, Representative Wom-
an's Foreign Missionary Society of the
Reformed Church in the United States.

Mrs. W. D. Cabell, President Presiding
National Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution.

Rev. Ida C. Hultin, President Woman's
Western Unitarian Conference.

Hannah P. James, Representative of
American Library Association.

Margaret Ray Wickens, President Wom-
an's National Relief Corps.

Hattie A. Robinson, Supreme Chief of
Supreme Temple of Pythian Sisters of
the World.

Esther Herrman, Representative of Amer-
ican Society of Authors.

Mrs. J. N. Crouse, President Woman's
Baptist Home Mission Society.

Margaret A. Evans, Representative of
Woman's Foreign Missionary Union of
Friends.

Julia Ward Howe, President Women's
Ministerial Conference and Association
for the Advancement of Women.

Alice May Scudder, Representative of
Christian Endeavor Work.

Mary C. Snedden, Grand Matron Order of
the Eastern Star.

Dr. Mary H. Stilwell, President Woman's
First Dental Association of the United
States.

Judith W. Andrews, Representative of
Ramabai Association.

Mary Lowe Dickinson, Representative of
International Order of King's Daughters
andSona

Mrs. Mary Frost Ormsby, President Nat-
ional Democratic Influence Clubs.

Mrs. F. G. Stauffer, Representative of
Woman's Missionary Society of the
Evangelical Association.

Mrs. L. R. Keister, Representative Wom.
an's Missionary As.sociation of the
United Brethren in Christ.

Miss Eliva Anne Thayer, President Order
of Melchisedek.

Mrs. Wm. Boyd, Representative of the
International Committee of Yonng
Woman's Christian Associations.

Harriette A. Keyser, Representative of
Working Women's Society.

Mrs. Samuel Shapleigh. President Union
Maternal Association.

Anna W. Longstreth.

Mrs. Leland Stanford.

Matilda B. Carse.

Virginia C. Meredith.

Louisa Reed Stowell.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward.

Amelia E. Barr.

Zerelda G. Wallace.

Mary Jameson Judah.

Mary E. Wilkins.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Helen H. Gardener.

Margaret Sangster.

Mrs. A. D T. Whitney.

Mary Anderson.

Emma C. Thursby.

Dr. Mary Wood Allen.

Roberta M. West

Mrs. Pearsall Smith.

Clara Bewick Colby.

Alice T. Toomy.

Helena Theresa Goesamann.

Amelia K. Wing.

Grace Greenwood.

Delia Lathrop Williams.

Elizabeth Duffum Chace.

M. Carey Thomas.

Prof. Mary Jordan.

Mrs. E. C. Hendricks.

Mary H. Wilmarth.

Anne Whitney.

Lucinda H. Stone.

Harriet Purvis.

Lucia E. Blount

Mary W. Kincaid.

Elizabeth Howard Childs.

Ruth O. Delamater.

Mrs. Mandeville.

Letitia Green Stevenson.

934

APPENDIX.

Imogfene C. Pales, President Sociologfic
Society of America.

Rate Gannett Wells, Representative of
National Alliance of Unitarian and other
Liberal Christian Women.

Urs. H. B. Skidmore, RepresenUtive of
Woman's Porei^ Missionary Society of
the M. B. Church.

Charlotte Bmerson Brown, President Gen-
eral Pederation of Women's Clubs.

Dr. Helen B. O'Leary, President Ladies'
Physiological Institute.

Alice Freeman Palmer, Representative of
Association of Collegiate Alumne.

Mary Bonney Rambaut, Honorary Presi-
dent Women's National Indian Associa-
tion.

Mrs. O. A. Burgess, President Christian
Woman's Board of Missions.

.Mrs. John Wood Stewart, President Need-
lework Guild of America.

Caroline Barle White, Representative of
Anti- Vivisection Society.

Elizabeth Cady SUnton.

Lucy Stone.

Mary A. Livermore.

M. Louise Thomas.

Eliza J. Thompson.

Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell.

Prances E. W. Harper.

Abby Morton Diaz.

Anna Dickinson.

Dr. Emily BUckwell.

Alice Howard

M. Adeline Thomson.
Mary B. Boyce.
Mrs. Elizabeth Waddington.
Sister Mary Austin.
Mrs. S. Gaston BailieflC
Mrs. Mary Pandergast
Mrs. Minnie D. Louis.
Madame Janauschek.
Georgia Cay van.
Clara Morris.
Rev. Ada C. Bowles.
Olive Risley Seward.
Charlotte Porter.
Mra John C, Coonley.
Louisa M. Southworth.
Phebe A. Hearst.
Mary P. Henderson.
Dr. Hannah E. Longshore.
Dr. Frances Emily White.
Mrs. Henry E>ormitzer.
Madame E. Louise DemoresL
Mary E. Newton.
Emmii Cary.
Katharine E. Conway.
Sister M. Aloysia.
Katharine O'Keefe.
Madame Modjeska.
Julia Marlowe.
Mile. Rhea.
Fannie I. Helmuth.
Mother Augusta Anderson.
Jane G. Austin.
Charlotte Fisk Bates Rog«.
Cady.

FOREIGN ADVISORY COUNCIL.

Dr. Marie Popelin.
Mme. Vve. Altmeyer.
Mme. Vve. Bourton.
Mme. B. Canderlier.
Mme. Jessie Couvreur.
Mme. Hector Denis.
Mme. Wjrvekens.

Josefa Humpal-Zeman.
Sleona Karla Machova.
Mrs. Maria Blahnik.

AUSTRALIA.
Margaret Windeyer.

BELGIUM.
La Ligue Belgique.

Mile. Gatti de Gamond.

Dr. Van Diest.

Mme. Hougeau de Cehaie.

Mile. I^^onie la Fontaine.

Mme. ComAds Servais.

Mile. Marguerite von de Wiela.

Mile. Jeanne Cordeua

BOHEMIA

Mrs. Klementina Novak.
Eliska KrUnohorska.
Miss Prances Gregor.
Miss Anna C. Mally.

APPENDIX. 935

CANADA.
Dominion Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
lira. Yotxmans. Mrs. Cunningham.

Mrs. Dr. Todd. Mrs. Ella F. M. William&

Mrs. A. O. Rutherford. Miss J. Tilley.

Mrs. Edith J. Archibald. Mrs. Roberta E. Tilton.

Miss Mary Scott. Mrs. Mary McDonell.

Mrs. Sanderson. Mrs, J. Cavers.

Mrs. Wilhelmina McLaren.

Woman's Enfranchisement Association of Canada.
Dr. Emily Howard Stowe. Mrs. Annie Parker.

Mrs. Sarah Anne Curson. Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen.

Mrs. Ida Taylor Scales.

Dominion Branch of the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons.

Mrs. Elizabeth M. Tilley. Mrs. May L. Gibbs.

. Miss Lw Kirkpatrick. Mrs. £. M. English.

Mrs. Lucy M. Coad. Mrs. M. E. Pinch.

Miss Annie M. Brown. Mrs. Eliza J. McNish.

Mrs. W. P. Brown. Miss Helen L. Barker.

Mrs. J. Wesley Smith. Mrs. J. H. Macmichael.

Miss D. Megarry. Mrs. Florence Tilton.

Mrs. C. H. HaU. Mrs. F. H. Maitland DougalL

Canada Congregational Woman's Board of Missions.
Mrs. D. Macallum. Mrs. J. D. Nasmith.

Mrs. A. P. McGregor. Mrs. Ella F. M." Williams.

Mrs. E. S. Strachan, Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church.

Mrs. John Harvie. Miss Eliza M. Balmer, B. A.

Mrs. John Cameron. Miss Madge Robertson.

Miss Nora Laugher. Emily Irvine, M. B.

Miss Gertrude E. Spurr. Mrs. L. Policy.

Miss Rose J. E. Grier. Mrs. C. H. Dobbin.

Dr. Susanna P. Boyle. Mme. Susie Van de Werken d'Auria.

Miss M. A. Snively. Miss Kate P. Hagarty.

Mrs. S. Frances Harrison. Mrs. Amelia M. Cowan.

Dr. Jennie Gray. Miss Jessie Semple.

Miss Mary Morgan (Gowan Lea). Miss Alice Fenton Freeman (Faith

Miss Ethelwyn Wetherald. Fenton).

Mrs. Margaret T. Scott. Dr. Lelia Davis.

Miss Nellie Spence, B. A Dr. Eliza R. Gray.

Mrs. Willoughby Cummings. Miss Louise L. Ryckman, B. A

DENMARK.

Miss Kirstine Frederiksen, Recording Sec- Mrs. Selmer.

retary International Council of Women Mrs. Charlotte Klein.

and President Dansk Kvindesamfund. Mrs. Nico Beck Meyer.

Mrs. Johanne Meyer, President de Sam- Miss Betty Hennings.

lede Kvindeforeningen. Mrs. Laura Kieler.

Miss Nathalie Zahle. Miss Kirstine Andersen.

Miss Ida Palbe Hansen. Mrs. Louise Norlund.

Miss Johanne Krebs. Mme. Julie Lembcke.

Miss Regitze Bamer. Frederikke Olesen.

Augusta Fenger.

936

APPENDIX.

ENGLAND.

Lady Henry Somerset.

Miss Florence Bal^ramie.

Lady Prances Balfour, Central Committee

of the National Society for Women's

Suffrage.
Viscountess Harberton, Rational Dress

Society.
Laura Ormiston Chant, Central National

Society for Women's Suffrage.
Mrs. Cot>den Unwin, Central National So-
ciety for Women's Suffrage.
Miss Emily Conybeare, Central National

Society for Women's Suffrage.
Countess of Aberdeen, Women's Liberal

Federation.
Mrs. Cobden Unwin, Women's Liberal

Federation.
Mrs. Jacob Bright, Women's Franchise

League.
Mrs. Warner Snoad, Women's Progressive

Society.
Miss Morley, London Young Women's

Christian Association.
Hon. Emily Kinnaird, London Young

Women's Christian Association.
Miss Jessie Boucherett, Society for Pro-
moting the Employment of Women.
Miss Florence Routledge, Women's Trades

Union League.
Mrs. Henry Pawcett, Women's Liberal

Unionist Association.
Miss Hubbard, United Sisters' FHendly

Society.
Miss L Cock, M. D., London School of

Medicine for Women.
Miss Beatrice Cust, Women's University

Settlement.
Countess of Aberdeen, Society for Pro-
moting the Return of Women to all

Local Governing Bodies.

Miss Annie Leigh Brown, Society for Pro-
moting the Return of Women to all
Local Governing Bodies.

Mrs. Hugh Price Hughes, Sisters of the
People.

Miss Llewelyn Davies, Women's Coop-
erative Guild.

Mrs. Wolstonholme Elmy, Women's
Emancipation Union.

Miss Bramston, Society for Promoting the
Return of Women as Poor Law Guard-
ians.

Mrs. Annie Hicks, Women's Trades Union
Association.

Mrs. W. L. Brodie Hall, Association for
the Advancement of Boarding Out
Workhouse and Other Children.

Miss Agnes Weston, The Sailors' Friend.

Countess of Aberdeen, Invalid Children's
Aid Association.

Hon. Lady Freemantle (Royal Mint), In-
valid Children's Aid Association.

Mrs. Ashford, Birmingham Society for
Women's Suffrage.

Mra HenrietU E. V. Stannard (John
Strange Winter), Writers' Club.

Mrs. Miers, Moral Reform Union.

Mrs. C. Shaen, British Section of the
World's Woman's Christian Temper-
ance Union.

Marie Fischer Lette, Peace Society.

Mrs. Eva McLaren.

Miss MuUer.

Mrs. Annie Besant

Mrs. Ernest Hart.

Miss Emily Faithful.

Mrs. Alice Cliff Scatche/d.

Mrs. Josephine Butler.

Dr. Elizabeth BlackwelL

Miss Mary Ann Cash.

Mrs. Samuel Bright

FINLAND.

Finsk Qvinnoforening.

Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg.
Mrs. Elizabeth LOfgren.

Aurore de Karamzine.
Miss Meri Toppeliua

Emilie Bergbom.

Unionen Qvinnosaksforbund i Finland.
Miss Adelaide Bhmrooth. Mrs. Minna Canth.

Dr. Rosina Heikel. Miss Alii Trygg.

Mrs. Ebba Nordqvist

APPENDIX.

937

PRANCE.

Mme. Isabelle Bogelot, Treasurer of Inter-
national Council of Women.

Mile. Marie Deraismes, La Federation
Feministe.

Mme. Wiggishoff, La Federation Fem-
iniste.

Mme. Pognon, La Federation Feministe.

Mme. Pasquier, La Federation Feministe.

Mme. Astr6 de Valsayre, La Lig^ue de
TAffranchissement des Femmes.

Mme. Emesta Urban, L'Union Interna-
tionale des Sciences et des Arts.

Mme. Cecile Ranoz, L'Union Interna-
tionale des Sciences et des Arts.

Marie Deraismes, Soci6t6 pour T Ameliora-
tion du Sort de la Femmc et la Revendi-
cation de ses Droits.

Mme. Teresa Viele.
GERMANY.

Mme. Emilie de Morsier.

Mme. Maria Martin.

Mme. Clemence Royer.

Mme. Marya Cheliga-Lo^vy.

Mme. Jules Siegfried.

Mme. Griess-Traut

Mme. Leon Bertaux.

Mile. Juliette Guy.

Mile. Jeanne Cheuvin.

Mme. Napoleon Ney.

Mile. Pauline de Grandpr6.

Mme. Aline Valette.

Mme. Marie Br^on.

Mme. Blanche Edwards-Pillier.

Mme. Eugenie Potoni^-Pierre.

Mile. Myrtile Rengnet.

Mme. Nelly Lieutier.

Her Majesty, the Empress Frederick.
Hanna Bieber-Boehm, Verein Jugend-

schutz.
'Frau Henriette Goldschmidt, Verein ftlr

Pamilien-und Volkserziehung.
Frau Minna Streiker, Alice-Praucnverein

ftir die Krankenpflegc im Grossherzog-

thum Hessen.
PriLulein Dr. Ella Mensch, Alice-Frauen-

verein fflr die Krankenpflege im Gross-

herzog^hum Hessen.
Prftulein Atigusta Fdrster, Comit6 fUr de

Deutsche Frauenabtheilung bei der

Weltausstellung.
Frau Elizabet Kaselowsky, Comity fQr de

Deutsche Frauenabtheilung bei der

Weltausstellung.
Frau Kettler, Verein Frauenbildung's

Reform.
Prftulein Agnes Burchard, Verein Frauen-

bildung's Reform.
Helene Lobedau, Schriftfflhrerin des Ver-

einsder Kttnstlerinnen.

Frau Henriette Schrader.
Prftulein Helene Lange.
Frau Lina Morgenstern.
Prftulein Louise Schleuschner.
Frau Minna Cauer.
Prftulein Alis von Cotta.
Prftulein Lucie Crain.
Frau Marie Mellien.
Frau Dr. Heidfeld.
Frau Anna Schepeler-Lette.
Frau Dr. Tiburtius-Hirschfeld.
Frau Mathilde Weber.
Frau Hedwig Heyl.
Prftulein Mathilde Lammers.
Frau Professor v ■ n Helmholtx
Prftulein Dr. Tiburtius.
Frau Claere Schubert-Feder.
Prftulein Fuhrmann.
Elizabeth Winterhalter, M. D.
Frau Dr. lessen.
Frau Henschke.

Frau Anna Simson, Prauenbildung's
Verein, Breslau.

Kaethe Shirraacher, Agrdgde de I'Universild.

Dowager Klerck Hagendorp.

GREECE.

Callirrhoe Parren.

HOLLAND.

Mme. W. Drucker.

IRELAND.

Miss Helen McKerlie, Dublin Women's Miss Hilles, Dublin Women's Suffrage

Suffrage Committee. Committee.

Miss Letitia Alice Walkington.

ICELAND.

Mme. Sigrid Magnflssen.

938

APPENDIX.

ITALY.

ContMsa Teresa de Gubematis, President
of the Society for the Instruction of
Women.

Contessa GiannottL

Donna Emilia Peruzxi.

Fanny Zampini Salazar.

Mile. Sarmisa Bilesco.

Sigrnorina Rosettina Amadori

Donna Enrichetta Cipriani.

Louise W. Terry.

Sisrnora Grazia Pierontoni.

Siffnorina Beri.

Contessa Georgina Safii.

Signorina Elisa Norsa.

Signorina Dort Guisseppina Cattani

Signora Tsa Boghen Caralieri.

Signora Angelina Altobelli.

Signora Tesdolinda Pignonti.

Signora CosUnza Oiglione.

Signora Maria Mantezazxa.

Mme. Beccario.

Signorina Laisa de Virte-PigneroL

Mme. Ravizza.

Mme. RoulischofT.

Donna Aurelia Cimino.

Contessa Lovatelli.

Contessa A. Ricardi.

Signora Caterina Camerus Marchi.

Mme. Adolphine Gotme.

Donna Aureli.

Contessa Michelina dei Gottschalck Ok-
renska.

Signora Angelina Delfaber.

Signora Carlotta Ferrari

Signorina Silva Albertoni.

Contessa Angelica Rasponi.

Signorina Placci.

Signora Sofia Santarelli.

Signora Marianna Giarre-BiUL

Signora Rose Edwards CiahattarL

Signora Marianna Maiolarinl

Signora GiuUa RibighinL

Signora Sophia Cammorota.

Signora Prandi Ribighini.

Signora Angloletta ManfronL

Duchessa Teresa Ravascheri.

Signora Maria Savi Lopez.

Signora Commasina Giuda.

Contessa Trene Delia Rocca.

Signorina Bice Ferrari.

Signorina Emilia Mariani.

Signora Cesira Siciliana.

Signora Teresa Gambinossi.

Contessa Virginia Ricardi di Lantosca.

Signora Elisabetta Hammer.

Signora Ida Baccini.

Signora Ross.

Miss Paget.

Contessa Maria PasolinL

Signora Matilde Serao.

Signora Bonacci.

Signorina Ada Negri.

Signora Pellegrini.

Signora Dott Giulia Cantalamepa.

The Pttndita Ramabai.

INDIA.

Soonderbai Powar.

JAPAN.
Umtf Tsuda.

NORWAY.

Mrs. Ragna Nielsen, Norsk Kvindesag-

forening.
Miss Gina Krog, Kvindestemmeretsforen-

ing.
Miss Anna Rogstad, Kvindestemmerets*

forening.
Mrs Camilla CoUett
Miss Aasta Hansteen.
Mrs. Wilhelmine Ullman P. Dunke.
Mrs. Thoresen Krog.
Mme. Anna Bugge Wicksell.
Mrs. Clang Loken.
Mrs. Antonie Loken.

Mrs. Kitty KrelUnd.

Statsrariman Stang.

Mrs. Elise Aubert.

Mra Johanna Vogt.

Mrs. Matilda Schiott

Miss Alvilde Prytz.

Miss Anne Halsen.

Miss Ida Welhaven.

Countess Ida Wedel-Jarlsberg.

Miss Birgitle Esmark.

Miss Amalie Hansen.

Miss Sofie MOller.

Mra Hedwig Rossing.

APPENDIX.

939

Mme. Bdhm.

Mme. Sophy Philosophoff.
Mme. Anna Strekaloff.
Mme. Pauline Couriard.
Baroness Elena K. VrangeL
Mile. Nadezada Stesoff.

POLAND.

Theresa Ciszkrswicz.

RUSSIA.

Mme. Secetchkin.

Mme. Wera Annenkoff.

Mme. Aline Messayedoff.

Princess Maria Alexandrouna Shakov-

skoy.
Mile. Anna J. Konstantinoff.
Mme. S. A. Devidoff.
SCOTLAND.

Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren, Edinburgh Mrs. Jane Miller.

National Society for Women's Suffrage.
Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake, Edinburgh School

of Medicine for Women.
Mrs. Eliza Wigham.
Miss Mary Burton.
Miss Flora C. Stevenson.
Mrs. Jesse Morrison Wellstood.
Miss Jane E. Taylour.
Mrs. Margaret C. Blaikie.

Mrs. Elizabeth Pease NichoL

Miss Louisa Stevenson.

Dr. Agnes McLaren.

Miss Agnes Craig.

Miss Eliza Scott Kirkland.

Mrs. Grant A. Millar.

Coimtess of Aberdeen, Woman's Protect-
ive Provident League, Scottish Women's
Liberal Federation.

SOUTH AMERICA.

Martha Sesselberg, Member of the ParA Isabel King.

and Amazon Commission. Amy C. W^ales.

Madame Quesada.

SIAM.

Lady Linchee Suriya.

SWEDEN.

Mrs. S. Aldersparre, Prederika-Bremer-

Porbundet.
Miss Gertrud Adelborg, Frederika-Bre-

mer-Forbundet.
Miss Anna Roos, Frederika-Bremer-For-

bundet.
Mrs. Ellen Ankarsward, Poreningen fflr

Gift Kvinnas Eganderfttt.
Mrs. Anna Hierta Retzius, Poreningen ffir

Gift Kvinnas Eganderfttt.
Mrs. Rosalie Olivecrona.
Mrs. A. Montelius.
Miss H. Casselli.
Mrs. A. Myhrman Lindgren.
Miss L. Bngstrom
Miss Ellen Key.

Miss H. Cronius.

Miss Hilda Dallman.

Miss Lotten Dahlgren.

Mrs. Anna Fleetwood Derby.

Miss Hilda Wennberg.

Baroness Thorborg Rappe.

Miss Ellen Fries.

Miss Hulda Lundin.

Miss A. Lagerstedt.

Miss Eva Fryxell.

Miss Eva Rohde.

Mrs. A. Wallenberg.

Dr. Carolina Widerstrom.

Mrs. Sofi Wilson.

Mrs. Helena Bergh.

Miss Anna Sandstrdm.

SPAIN.
Professor Catalina de Alcala. Emilie Pardo Bazan.

Sefiora Dona Maria del Pilar Sinues.

SWITZERLAND.
Mme. Tauthe Vignier, L'Union des Pem- Dr. Emilie Kempin.
mes.

SYRIA.

Mme. Hanna K. Korany.

940 APPENDIX.

E.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

The following extracts from foreign letters, which might be multiplied
indefinitely from other letters received by the chairman of the Committee
of Organization, will show the interest evinced in this Congress abroad:

From Count SeckendorflP, Ober Hofmarschall to the Empress Frederick:

The Empress Frederick's Palace, Berli??, January 13, 1893.
Count Seckendorff has received the commands of Her Majesty, the Empress Fred-
erick, to thank Mrs. May Wright Sewall very much for her letter of October last, 15th.
Her Majesty desires him to say that Her Majesty takes the greatest interest in the
scheme which Mrs. Sewall has put forward, explained at such length in Mrs. Sewall's
l^er, and which recalls to Her Majesty the conversation which she had with Mrs.
ewall at Homburg. It is because Her Majesty saw so many difficulties in the way of
realizing this plan (which has her complete sympathy), that an answer has so long been
delayed.' Her Majesty was anxious that no stone should remain unturned.

From Herr Dr. Max Schmid, Berlin:

I have received your inclosurea with hearty thanks, and follow your undertaking
with interest. So far as lies in my power I will gladly work for your cause.

From Alice P. Morrison, Department Superintendent Ontario Woman's
Christian Temperance Union:

I was very much pleased to receive one of the World's Congress Auxiliary circulars,
and to learn of the extensive arrangements being made for the advancement of the
cause of womanhood. There has never occurred heretofore so favorable an opportunity
to place before the world in an unprejudiced light the various plans in operation and
work now being done by the wom^n of the world; and I, for one, look forward to grand
results from this movement.

Personally my work is limited to a department in the Provincial Woman's Christian
Temperance Union; but every effort put forth for the cause of womanhood — from the
grand organizations of whom the beloved Frances E. Willard is the head to the remote
school for Hindu widows, with their dark-skinned sister Pundita Ramabai as teacher
— strikes a responsive chord in my heart, and calls forth my most earnest prayers for
success. Hoping that all that you hope for and much more may result from this far-
reaching and noble scheme, I remain, etc

From Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant, London:

It is evident I am bound for the World's Fair in May. I have been appointed one of
the honorary delegates by our National Suffrage Society. I am going to bring my
daughter with me. It will be a life-long memory for her — a visit with mother to this,
the most marvelous gathering of the century; it will help her to a magnificent ideal of
the future of woman.

From Florence Balgamie, London:

I am very glad to tell you things go on well; we shall have twenty-five societies
represented by honorary delegates, and several by delegates. I am much honored by your
invitation to take part in the symposium. I inclose our list up to date. Of course the
reports which so many societies are sending In we hope will be published, and thus the
main object will be accomplished of comparing notes with accuracy on all women's
questions. I have really worked with might and main for the Congress; so you must
not judge of my enthusiasm by the shortness of my letters.

From Lina Morgenstern, Berlin:
Your letter pleased me very much, for I perceive more and more how magnificent

APPENDIX. 941

the congresses will be. The wish expressed by the committee touched me deeply, and
I am very willing to forward them an address on the ** Industrial Position of Women
in Germany."

From Frau Hedwig Heyl, Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany:

In reply to your favor I beg to tender my sincere thanks for the honor conferred
upon me by the committee to become a member of your Congress, the aims and objects
of which have my most lively interest. I am also honored by your desire of my deliver-
ing an address upon the subject selected by your committee. I regret that the duties
of my position here prevent me from delivering this address personally, but have much
pleasure in forwarding the essay in time. I assure you, dear madame, of my sincere
and profound interest in the good cause in which your committee has embarked.

From Frau M. Strecker, Vice-President of the Alice-Frauenverein,
Darmstadt:

Accept my best thanks for your kind communications and papers. I regret as much
as yourself that your telegram of last summer was forwarded to me too late to enable
me to make your acquaintance in person. It shall be our endeavor, by means of public
addresses and newspapers, to make clear to the women of our particular home, Hessen,
the cause for which you so kindly and warmly enlist our attention, and bring forward
all such who may have anything special whatever to communicate regarding the
subject in question. In memory of the ever-to-be-remembered Grand Duchess Alice,
who encouraged women in every branch of work, and whose influence ought not to
remain unnoticed on this occasion, we hope to take part in your great International
Exhibition, under the title, " Women's Work in Social Progress in Hessen."

As early as March Z2th I received both packets, and beg you to accept my best
thanks for them. Miss Ella Mensch will have the honor of personally expressing her
thanks for your kind invitation for the eight days of the Congress. After having seen
a part of the sphere of action of American women, it seems to me more important than
ever to be represented at this Congress by a delegate. It is a great pity that so many
ideal aspirations here remain undeveloped for want of means, although the greatest
industry prevails.

From Emily Kempin, Dr. Jur., Ziirich:

I feel much honored by your invitation to prepare an address for Thursday, May
i8th, on the subject, '* Woman's Debt to Zurich," and I shall gladly comply with your
request.

From Frau Elizabet Kaselowsky, Berlin:

I received your prospectus about the Woman's Congress, and I did all I could to
make it prosper here in Germany. I think you will be informed that there will come
several ladies to speak about different themes. I will come myself,' not expressly for
the CDngresses, but as a representative of the German Women's Committee, to take
care of and to arrange our exhibit. So I hope to see you in the spring, for I intend to
depart in the last days of March, and to stay, perhaps, eight weeks in Chicago.

From Josef a Humpal-Zeman, Prague, Bohemia:

You are very kind indeed to honor me with the invitation to address the Woman's
Congress. I should prefer not to appear before such a distinguished gathering; but for
the sake of the women of my country I accept gratefully your invitation, and have
chosen the theme, " Woman as a Social Leader. " Having accepted it, I assure you, dear
madam, that I will do all in my power to do justice to the subject, and prevent the need
of regrets on your part for having honored the women of my nationality by choosing
one of them to participate in an effort which will be a new turning point in the history
of woman.

942 APPENDIX.

From Alexandra Gripenberg, Helsingfors, Finland:

Accept my best wishes for the success of your grand work, and believe me yours
very sincerely, etc.

From Callirrhoe Parren, Athens, Greece:

To-day I have received your letter, and I thank you to have thought of me. I accept
with great pleasure. With next post I write you a long letter upon this matter. I hope
to be at Chicago with you.

From Rosettina Amadori, Bologna, Italy:

Veuillez agreer mcs remerciments pour votre aimable lettre; elle augmente encore
mes regrets de ne pouvoir me rendre & Chicago pour le Congr^s Universel des Femmes.
J*y prends le plus vif int4r6t et j'en reconnais la haute importance; j'envoie mon
adhesion, et je souhaite vivement que le Congr^s obtienne une bonne r^ussite, et que la
lumi&re qu'il va repandre soit d'une influence bienfaisante pour tout le monde. Puisse-
t-i-1 apporter aux femmes les avantages moraux aussi desirable que n^cessaires. Je me
chargerai avec plaisir de la publication sur quelque journal Italien des exemplaires que
vous avez eu la complaisance de m'envoyer.

From M. C. A. Ch6nod, Secretaire de L*Union des Femmes, Geneva:
Nous avons re^u votre avis, et, nous appuyant sur I'invitation qui est adress^e aux
soci^t^s de femmes k se faire repr^senter au Congr^s f^ministe de Chicago, nous venons
vous demander de nous faire la faveur d'accepter comme d414gu^e de notre Soci^t^
Madame Tauthe Vignier, qui doit se rendre & Chicago pour assister au Congr^s. Notre
but en demandant & participer a votre Congris est de nous rapprocher des Associations
f^ministes qui sont tout autrement avanc^es que nous, pour trouver un appui auprfts
d'elles, et pour puiser de nouvelles forces dans leur example.

From Madame Clemence Royer, translator of Darwin, and author of
many works, Paris:

Bien certainement, je ne vous ai point oubli^e — et je vais m'empresser de faire toute
la propagande dont je suis capable.

From Marie Popelin, Docteur en Droit, Bruxelles:

J'ai su par les journaux que votre visite k Paris a 6t6 un grand succds, et que \k, du
motns. on vous prepare une belle d616gation. Nous travaillons beaucoup k notre Ligue,
et nous avons constitue le comity d'honneur que vous nous avez demand^. Je compte
bien prendre part au Congr^s des Femmes, et nous voudrions recevoir les papiers con-
cernant le programme et les questions qui seront discute^s, et savoir si vous d^irez un
travail de nous, et quel genre de travail. Je voudrais voir de mes yeux I'activit^ des
Am^ricaines, juger de leur d^veloppement et prendre la parole au Congr^s.

From Marie Deraismes Pr6sidente de la Soci^t^ pour TAm^lioration du
Sort de la Femme, Paris:

Je suis tris touchee de votre cordiale lettre. Nous tv'avons eu qu'un regret, lors de
votre passage k Paris; c'est que vous n'avez pu nous consacrer plus de temps. Pour
r^pondre k votre desir je vous adresserai une ^tude succincte sur le pouvoir de la
femme dans la politique. J'ai dijk abord^ ce sujet dans les oeuvres que vous recevrez;
n^anmoins. j'y reviendrai sp^cialement, pour votre Congr^s. Notre del4gu6e sera
charg^e d'en faire la lecture.

From M. DaxTigny, Secretaire de I'Union Internationale des Sciences et
des Arts, Paris:

En riponse k votre derniftre lettre, j'ai Thonneur de vous faire savoir que notre
Comit6 a d^signe pour partir comme membres d'honneur du Congrds f^minin, Mme
Ernesta Urban, artiste peintre, et pr^sidente de notre soci6t4. et Mme. C^ile Renvoz,
femme de science et conf^renci^re. Nous vous savons grand gr6 de votre invitation k
coop^rer k vos travaux.

APPENDIX. 943

From M. ChsAWey -Bert, /ourna/ des DibatSy Paris:

M. J. Chailley-Bert presents his best compliments to Mrs. May Wright Sewall, and
begrs to inform her that he will be very much pleased to publish in Le Journal des D4bats
anything concerning the highly commendable Congress of Women at the World's
Pair.

From Jane Cobden Unwin, London:

I hope that you will excuse the delay in my letter, and at the same time express to
the members of the Committee of the Woman's Branch of the Auxiliary my sincere
thanks for their invitation to speak on Thursday, the i8th May. I look forward with
much pleasure to being present during one or two days of the week's Congress.

From Madame Aline Valette, Secretary of the F6d6ration Fran9aise des
Soci6t6s Feminist es, Paris:

Les semaines et les jours passent avec une effrayante rapidity. A peine nous ^tiez-
vous arriv^e, et d4j& vous 6tiez repartie ; si bien que, quand je pense & votre passage k
Paris, jc crois avoir fait un joli rdve, et il me faut, par une preuve mat^rielle, me con-
vaincre du contraire. De mon c6t6, je m'engage A vous faire part de ce qui surgira de
saillant relativement A notre cause, & Paris, ou ailleurs, en France. Recevez, Madame,
le bon souvenir d'une Soeur fran^aise qui ne demande qu' k aider k faire moins grande
la distance qui la s^pare de vous.

From Madame Vincent. Representative of the F^ddration Fran9aise,
etc., Paris:

La PM6ration Frangaise des Soci^tds F^ministes, in a meeting held on the 2d of
February, has named a commission with the object of seeking and arranging practical
means for sending out delegates to the Congress of Chicago. I beg of you to give me
all particulars which are necessary to us.

From Madame Griess-Traut, Vice-Pr^sidente de la Soci^t^ pour T Ameli-
oration du Sort de la Femme, Paris:

Je reponds & votre bonne et int^ressante lettre, qui m' a rappel6 non seulement le
souvenir de votre personne sympathique, mais aussi celui de la mission de d^vouement
dont vous vous 6tes si bien acquitt^e k Paris. Les duplicata des m^moires que vous m'
avez addresses ont ^t^ distribu^s au mieux possible k des femmes de progr^s, les
soci6t6s connues s' ^tant trouv^es d6j& pourvues. Recevez tous mes voeux pour votre
bonheur personnel, et pour le succ^s de votre grande et magniUque oeuvre.

From M. Guy Tomel, Redacteur au Figaro, Paris:

Je me tiens entidrement k votre disposition pour continuer la propagande en France.
Vous n'aurez qu'*& m' adresser les documents relatifs k votre ceuvre au fur et k mesure
de leur publication.

From Madame Wigg^shoff, Montmartre, Paris:

Je vous suis reconnaissante de votre bon souvenir. J'espdre que I'esprit a raison du
corps, et il faut bien que cela soit ainsi, pour que vous puissiez faire face au travail
qu'il vous faudra faire encore d'ici six mois, aprds ce que vous faites depuis un an,
pour nous preparer un Congr^s digne de notre grande cause. Croyez, ch&re madame,
que jegarderai toujours un souvenir pr^cieux de la visite que nous avons faite ensem-
ble dans nos 6coles; votre enthousiasme communicatif, chdre madame, prouve combien
6tait bien plac^e la confiance que votre comity vous a t^moign^e en vous d^l^guant sur
notre continent; tant d 'efforts ne sauraient 6tre m^connus, et nous vous devrons
beaucoup, Mesdames.

From Fanny Zampini Salazar, Naples, Italy:

Many thanks for your kind letter. I am glad that I can deliver in English my
address on *' Woman in New Italj-." I am starting this week for my tour through Italy,
so as to study better my subject, making the personal acquaintance of our most promi-

4

944 1/ APPENDIX.

nent women, whom I already know by correspondence. I can not tell you how impa-
tient I am to take part in your most interestingr Congress, where I am sure to learn a
great deal about all that is being done throughout the entire world to elevate our sex.

From Frau Hanna Bieber-Boehm, President Jugendschute Verein,
Berlin:

Is there no possibility of postponing the World's Congress of Representative
Women until July > It is impossible for me to travel without my husband, and he can
not lome so early; and this Congress is what, above all things, I want. It will be a
great pain not to be there, but, unhappily, before August it is impossible.

From Frau Mathilde Weber, Philanthropist and Author, Tiibingen. Thus
closes a long and helpful letter:

I send you hearty greetings over the ocean, with the wish and belief that your great
Congress may conquer many old prejudices against our sex.

From Frau Henriette Goldschmidt, President Verein fiir Familien und
Volkserziehung, Leipsic:

I hope the inspired labor of Froebel, and the principles of education developed by
him, will be among the subjects considered by your great Congress, the influence of
which must be so wide and so lasting.

From Frfiulein Augusta Forster, Kassel. She writes with the greatest
enthusiasm of the Congress, and says:

Whether I come as a private person, or as the delegate of the Allgemeine Deutsche
Frauen verein in Leipsic, or of the Allgemeine Deutsche Lehrerinnen Verein, my par-
ticipation will be in education and philanthropy; although it will please me better to
keep silent in this great Congress where the greatest will be presen: to speak.

From the Contessa Emilia Peruizi, Florence, Italy:

The documents, preliminary addresses, etc., concerning the proposed Congress of
Representative Women have been read with profound interest. I send the names and
addresses of many Italian ladies of high standing, to whom I hope the plans of the Con-
gress will be communicated, and pray that its success may equal the hopes of the
committee.

From Lady Aberdeen, London:

I must crave your forgiveness for not having answered your letter at an earlier date.
I shall be glad to take up the subject that you suggest — " Women as a Force in Politica"

[Lady Aberdeen's interest in the Congress is so great that she comes over to attend
it, although she will be obliged to leave again before its close to keep engagements in
London.]

From the United States Minister at Madrid — Hon. A. Loudon Snow-
den:

I have had much pleasure in bringing to the notice of the Spanish Government the
subject of the Woman's Congress. I will inform you at once if I should be successful,
and meantime I beg to express to you and to your co-workers the admiration I feel
for this admirable undertaking, which promises to be one of the noblest and most ele-
vating occurrences of the century.

From the United States Minister at London — Hon. Robert T. Lincoln:
1 have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and to acquaint you in
reply that I have had pleasure in forwarding a copy of the same to Her Britannic Maj-
esty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to whom I at the same time
wrote a note expressing the hope that it might be possible for the government of this
country to comply with the request of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress
Auxiliary, and appoint two ladies of influence and distinction who have interested
themselves in the education of women, in philanthropy, literature, or art, as delegates
to the proposed Congress.

u

\

INDEX.

[For the preparation of this Index the Editor is indebted to the courtesy
of the Publishers.]

Page
Aberdeen, The CounteM of, 19, 424, 515, 944
Adams, Charles Kendall, Mrs., - - 131

Addams, Jane, 636

Address of Welcome, Bertha M.

Honors Palmer's, - - - - xi
Agriculture in Siam, Womei) in, - 765
Aims and Methods of the Young
Woman's Christian Association, - 847

Ailing, M.B„ 571

Amadori, Rosettina, - - - - 94a
Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett, Dr., - 209
Andrew, Elizabeth Wheeler, - - 400

Anderson, E. E., 6aa

Annex, Woman as an, - - - - 488

Announcement, ----- v

Anthony, Susan B., - - - - 463

Anti- Vivisection Society, - - - 903
Appendix, - - - - - - 929

Applied Arts, The Contribution of
Women to the, ----- 565

Armstrong, Belle Grant, - - - 80(6
Art, Ceramic, The Influence of Wo-
man in, ------ 57X

Art, Dramatic, Literature and the, - 138

Art in Ceramics, 573

Association for Married Women's
Property Rights, - - - - 527

Association of Collegiate Alumnae,

History. Aims, and Methods of the, 784
A Statement of Facts, - - - 891
Authors and Journalists, Western
Women, -------800

Avery, Rachel Foster, - - - 924
Balgamie, Florence, ... - 9^
Bartlett, Caroline J., Rev., • - 229

Bates, Josephine, 151

Bates, Octavia Williams, - - - 351
Beck-Meyer, Nico, • ■ -35, 729

Bieber-Boehm, Hanna, - - 23, 905, 944
Bird's-eye View of the National
Woman's Christian Temperance

Union, 874

(

Page

Blackburn, Helen, 67a

Blackwell, Antoinette Brown, Rev., 321, 346
Blake, Lillie Devereux, - • 430, 464

Blakely, A. M., 667

Board of Missions, Christian W^ Oman's,

The Organization and Work of the, 836
Bogelot, Isabelle, - - - - 33, 634
Bohemian Woman-ar a Factor in In-
dustry and Economy, - - - - 561

Bompiani, Sofia, 760

Bond, Kate, 605

Bonney, Charles C., - - - • 8
Boyd, Mrs. WMlliam, - - - - 847
Booth, Maud Ballington, - - - 371
Brains, Insurance Against Piracy of, 158
Braumuller, Luetta E., - - - - 573
Brazil, The Women of, - - - 657
Bristol, Augusta Cooper, - • -539
Bright, Mrs. Jacob, . - . . 415
British Women's Temperance Asso-
ciation, Origin and Early History of, 395
Brown, Charlotte Emerson, • - 147

Brown, Hallie Q., 724

Burgess, O. A-, Mrs., - ... 836
Burke, W^illiam E., Mrs., - - - 510
Business Women, A New Avenue of
Employment and Investment for, 559

Cabell, W.D., 114

Call to the Ministry, Woman's - .229
Canada, A Century of Progress for

Women in, 682, 687

Cary, Emma F., 298

Catholic Woman as an Educator, - 134
Catholic Women, Organized Work of, 260
Catholic Women's Part in Philan-
thropy, 818

Cayvan, Georgia, 179

Ceramic Art, The Influence of Wo-
man in, 571

Ceramics, Art in, 573

Century rtf Progress for Women in

Canada, 682,687

M5)

946

INDEX.

C, T. E.» Dr., IJ4

ChAilley-Bcrt, M., - - - - 943
ChAOt, Laurm OrmUton, 33. 347* 9¥>

Charity, Philanthropy, and Relttpian, 24a
Chairman of the Committee of Organi-
zation for the World'* Conflrr^^ o^
Representative Women. Address of, 13
Ch^nod. M. C. A., - - - - 94a
Christian Association, Yuunf^ Wo-
man's, in Sweden, - - • - 846
Christian Ass'xriation, Young Wo-
men's, Its Aims and Methods, - • 847
Christian Endeavor, S<.»ciety of Wo-
man's Work in the, - - - - 840
Christian Temperance Union, World's
Woman's, Origin, History, and De-

%'elopment of, 400

Christian Woman's Board of Missions,

The Organization and Work of the, 836
Christ on the Avenue, - - • 838
Church Missions, Relation of Voung

Women to, 826

Civil and Political Reform, • - 91a
Civil and Political Status of Women, 413
Civil and Social Evolution of Woman, 337
Civil Law and Government, - 451, 931
Civil Law, Woman's Position and In-
fluence in, 467

Club Life, Results of, Among Women

upon the Home, - - - ♦ - 7^
Clymer, Ella Dietz, • - - - 289
Collegiate Alumn«, Association of.

History, Aims, and Methods of the, 784
Colored Women of the South, Organ-
ized Efforts of the, to Improve Their

Condition, 718

Colored Women of the United States,
The Intellectual Progress of the,
Since the Emancipation Proclama-
tion, 696

Columbian Association of Htmsekeep-

ers and Bureau of Information, • 88/
Committee of Organization for the
World's Congress of Representative

Women, 48

Committee of Twelve Hundred, Ex-
tract from Letter, - - - - 929
Conferences and Conference Commit-
tees, - 929

Concluding Note, Editor's, - - 927
Contribution of Women to the Applied

Arts, 565

Cooper, A. J., Mrs., 7x1

Cooperative Housekeeping, - - 625
Cooper, Sarah B.. - - - - 00, 281
Coppin, Fannie Jackson, - - - 715

Page
Correspondence Relative to Organiza-
tion of the Congress, - - - 49
Cory. Florence Elizabeth, - - - 565

Cropsey, N.. 103

Cummings, Emily, 689

De Alcala, Catalina, • - - - 644
Davis, Lelia A., Dr., - - - - 36*

Davrigny. M., 942

Deaconess Movement, The Modem, - 244

Dedication, iii

Dcraismes, Marie, 942

Development of the World's Woman's

Christian Temperance Union, - 400
Deyo, Amanda, Rev., - - - - 733
Dickinson, Mary Lowe. - - - 393

Die Jugendschntz, 905

Domestic Service and the Family

Claim, 6a6

Double Standard of Morals, Heredity

in lu Relation to a, - - - - 374
Douglass, Frederick, Hon., - - 717
Drama, Emotional. Woman in the, - 175
Dramatic Art, Literature and the, - 138
Drama, Woman and the; Intro-
ductory Note. i6«

Dress, Ethics of, 339

Dress Reform and Its Necessity, - - 367
Dress, Woman's, from the Standpoint

of Sociology, ----- 354
Duncanson, Lillian Davis, - - - 457
Early History of the British Women's
Temperance Association, - - 395

Early, Sarah J., 718

Eastern Star. The, Its Origin, Prog-
ress, and Development, - - - 930
Eastern Star, Value of the, as a Factor
in Giving Women a Better Under-
standing of Business Affairs, and
Especially Those Relating to Legis-
lative Matters, 500

Economics, Woman the New Factoi;

io> 539

Economy of Women's Forces through

Organization, 37

Economy, Popular Inculcation of, - 119
Editorial Comment, - i, 3^, 88, 138, 161,

1^3, 242, 313, 413, C32, 778, 816, 870, 91a
Editor's Concluding Note, - - 937

Education, 88, 930

Educational Training in Its Bearing
upon the Promotion of Social

Purity, 137

Education and Literature, - - 778
Education, Ethical Influence of Wo-
man in, ------ - 107

Education of the Swedish Woman - 803

INDEX.

947

Pago
Bducation of Women (Medical) in Great

Britain and Ireland, - - - - 214
Education, Temperance, - - - 388
Education, The Highest, - - - 131
Effect of Modem Changes in Indus-
trial and Social Life on Woman's
Marriage Prospects, - - - - 59a
Elevation of Womanhood Wrought
through the Veneration of the
Blessed Virgin, - - - - 298
Emotional Drama, Woman in the, - 275
Employment and Investment for
Business Women, A New Avenue

off 559

England, The Progress of Women in, 67a
Ethical Influence of W^oman in Educa-
tion, 107

Ethics of Dress, 339

Ethics of Suffrage, - - - - 48a

Evolution, Civil and Social, of Wo-
man, ------- 337

Explorer, Woman as an, - - - 736
Extracts from Letters, - - - - 940

Extracts from the Address of Mrs.
Volmar of Utah in the Conference
Congress on Literature, • - 156

Facts, A Statement of, - - - - 891

Pairchild- Allen, Mrs., - . - 903
Finnish Women's Association — Pin sk
Qvinnoforening, - - - - sax

Finsk Qvinnoforening, The Finnish
Women's Association, - - - 521

Flint, Mary A., 500

Foreign Advisory Council, - - - 934
Forster, Augusta, Fr&ulein, - 25, 944
Foster, Mrs. J. Ellen, - - - 33, 439
Franchise League, Women's, of Great
Britain and Ireland, Origin and Ob-
jects of, 415

Franchise League, Work of, - - 420
Frederiksen, Kirstine, - - 30, 695
French-Sheldon, May, - - 736
Future, Woman's Political, - - - 433
Galpin, Kate Tupper, - - - 107
Gardener, Helen H., - - - 374, 488
General Reports, - - - . 930
Gestefeld, Ursula N., - - - -275
Goessmann, Helena T., - - - 589
Goldschmidt, Henriette, Frau, - - 944
Government, Civil Law and, - - 451
Government, Municipal, Woman's Par-
ticipation in, - 459

Government, Municipal, Women in, 451
Grannis, Elizabeth B., - - 285, 880
Greenwood, Grace (Mrs. Sara J. Lip-
pincott;, 891

Page
Greeting to the Representative Wo-
men of the World, Ellen M.

Henrotin's xa

Griess-Traut, Madame, . - - - 943
Gripenbcrg, Alexandra, - - 521, 94a
GuUen, Augusta Stowe, Dr., - - 3a
Hall, Sarah C, Dr., - - - - 46a
Harberton, Viscountess F. W., - - 367
Harley, Fanny M., - - - - 385
Harper, Frances E.W., - - - -433

Harper, Ida A., 451

Hart, Alice M., 578

Harvie, John, Mrs., - - - 31,689
Hayes, Ellen, Prof,, - - - - 354
Haynes, Lorenza, Rev., - - - 8j6
Hebrew Thought, Woman's Place in, 267
Henrotin, Ellen M., - - - - xa
Heredity in Its Relation to a Double

Standard of Morals, . . - 3^^
Heyl, Hedwig, Frau, - - - - 941
Highest Education, The, - - • 131
History, Aims, and Methods of the

Association of Collegiate Alumnse, • 784
History and Development of the
World's Woman's Christian Tem-
perance Union, - - - - 400
History of the British Women's Tem-
perance Association, - - - - 395
Hoffman, Clara C, - - - 258,874
Home Advisory Council, - - - 932
Household, Pottery in the, - - - 575
Housekeepers, Columbian Association

of, and Bureau of Information, - 887
Housekeeping, Cooperative, - - - C25

Howe, Julia Ward, 314

Hughes, Hugh Price, Mrs., - - 303
Hultin, Ida C, Rev., - - - - 297
Humpal-Zeman, Josefa, - - 28, 333, 941

Hunt, Mary H., 5S8

Iceland, Position of Women in, - 770
Illustrations, List of, - - - - xiii
Impromptu Speeches, Selected Para-
graphs from, 8

Inception of W^orld's Congress of Rep-
resentative Women, - - - - 46
Indian Association, Women's National, 510
Industrial, Social, and Moral Reform, 870
Industrial and Social Life, The Effect
of Modern Changes in, on Woman's
Marriage Prospects, - - - 593
Industries and Occupations, - - - 537

Industry, 930

Industry and Economy, Bohemian

Woman as a Factor in, - - - 561
Influence of Woman in Ceramic Art, 571
Insurance Against Piracy of Brains, 158

948

INDEX.

Page
InteUectUAl Progress of the Colored

Women of the United Sutes Since

the Emancipation Proclamation, - 696
International Kindergarten Union, - 779

Introduction, 1

Isaacs, Marion E., 8a8

luly, Woman in, ... - 747
Jacobi, Mary Putnam, Dr., - - - 195
Jex-Blake, Sophia, Dr., - - - 214
Johns, Laura M., - - - - - 459
Jones, Jenkin Lloyd, Mrs., - - 8ai
Jones, Mary A. Dixon, Dr., - - - ao7
Jug^ndschutz, Die, - - • - 905
Kaselowsky, EUsabet, - - - 554, 941
Kempin, Emily, Dr. Jur., - - - 941

Kenney, Mar>' E,, 871

Reyser, Harriette A., - - - - 617

Kieler, Laura, 80s

Kindergarten and Primary School, - 103
Kindergarten as an Educational

Agency, 90

Kindergarten in Relation to Manual

Training, -90

Kindergarten Union, International, • 779

King, Isabel, 658

King's Daughters and Sons of Canada,

Order of, 843

Kirkpatrick, Lixsie, - - - - 736
Kollock, Florence E., Rev., - - - m
Korany, Hanna K-, - - • - 773
Kreckcr, Elisabeth, - - - - 350
Law, Civil, Woman's Position and In<

fluence in, 467

Learned, Lucilia W., - - - - 796
Legal and Political SUtus of Woman

in Utah, 913

Leiter, Francis W., ... - 877
Leonard, Anna Byford, - - - 116
Liberal Federation, The Women's, of

Scotland, 515

Light in the East, a86

Lincoln, Robert T., Hon., - - - 944
Lippincott, Sara J. (Grace Greenwood) 891
List of Illustrations, .... xiii
Literature and Art, • • - - 931
Literature and the Dramatic Art, - 138
Literature, Education and, • - 778
Literature, The Polish Woman in, - 154
Literary Culture, Organization as a

Means of, 147

Locke, Josephine C, - - - - 324

Louis, Minnie D., 367

Lozier, Jennie de la M., Dr., - - - 127

Lundin, Hulda, 31

Machova, Karla, 561

Magnasson, Sigrid E., - - -770

Page
Maher, Mary A. B., • • • - - 134

Manual Training, Relation of the Kin-
dergarten to, 90

Marlowe, Julia, > . - . .188
Marriage Prospects, Woman's, The Ef-
fect of Modem Changes in Indus-
trial and Social Life on, - - • 59a
Marriage ? What Is, - - - - 599
Married Women's Property Righu,

Association for, . . . . 53^
McDonnell, Mary, .... 331, 68a
McLaughlin, M. Louise, ' - - 575
Medical Education of Women in Great

Britain and Ireland, - • - .314
Medical Women's Movement in the
United Kingdom of Great BriUin
and Ireland to January, 1893, - - ao9
Methodist Church, Canada, Woman's

Missionary Society of the, - - 833
Meyer, Anna Nathan, • - - 140
Miller, Florence Fenwick, - - ao, 430
Minister of Religion, Woman as a, - 236
Ministry, Woman's Call to the, - - 339
Missionary Society, Woman's, of the

Methodist Church, Canada, - - 833
Missions, Post Office, - - - - 8ax
Modern Deaconess Movement, - • 344
Modjeska, Helena, .... 164, 738

Monteflore, C. C 690

Moral and Social Reform, - 313, 931
Moral Initiative as Related to Woman, 314
Moral Reform, Organization as an In-
strument in Promoting, - - - 371
Moral Reform Union, - - - • 387
Morals, Heredity in Its Relation to a

Double Standard of, - - - - 374
Moreland, Mary L., Rev., ... 234
Morgenstem, Lina, ... 550, 940
Morris, Clara, - - - - - 175

Morrison, Alice P., 940

McMher, Frances Stewart, - • - 117
Municipality, One Phase of Woman's

Work for the, 457

Municipal Government, Women in, 451, 459
' National Christian League for the Pro-
motion of Social Purity, - - 880
National Indian Association, Women's, 5x0

Neal, Juana A., 559

Necessity in Dress Reform, - - - 367
Needlework Guild of America, - 895
New Avenue of Employment and In-
vestment for Business Women, - - 559
New England Woman's Press Asso-
ciation, 806

New South Wales, Progress of Wo-
men in, 690

INDEX.

949

Page

Oberholtzeff Sara Louise Vickers, xxg

Object of World's Congress Auxiliary, 45

Occupations, Industries and, - - 537

Officers of World's Congress Auxil-
iary, 46

Official Call for the Congress Issued
by the Woman's Branch of the
World's Congress Auxiliary, - 60

Onahan, Mary Josephine, - - - 8x8

One Phase of Woman's Work for the
Mnnicipality, 457

Opening Address of Hon. Charles C.
Bonney, ------ 8

Order of King's Daughters and Sons
of Canada, 843

Orders, Civil and Political Reform, - 9x3

Organization Among Women as an
Instrument in Promoting Religion, 392

Organization Among Women as an In-
strument in Promoting the Interests
of Industry, - - - - 605, 617

Organization Among Women as an In-
strument in Promoting the Interests
of Political Liberty, - - - - 463

Organization Among Women Consid-
ered with Respect to Philanthropy, 354

Organization and Its Relation to the
International and National Councils
of Women, 934

Organization and Work of the Chris-
tian Woman's Board of Missions, - 836

Organization as an Instrument in Pro-
moting Moral Reform, - - - 371

Organization as a Means of Literary
Culture, X47

Organization Committee for the
World's Congress of Representative
Women, 48

Organization of the Congress, Corre-
spondence Relative to, - - - 49

Organization of Working Women, - 871

Organized Development of Polish Wo-
men, 738

Organized Efforts of the Colored Wo-
men of the South to Improve Their
Condition, 7x8

Organized Work of Catholic Women, a6o

Origin and Early History of the Brit-
ish Women's Temperance Associa-
tion, 395

Origin and Objects of the Women's
Franchise League of Great Britain
and Ireland, 415

Origin, History, and Development of
the World's Woman's Christian Tem-
perance Union, 400

Page
Ormsby, Mary Frost, - - - - 446
Our Debt to Zurich, - - - - 693
Palmer, Bertha M. Honors, • - 11
Parker, Margaret V., - - - 34,339
Parren, CallirrhGe, - - - 36, 639, 943
Past, Present, and Future of the Wo-
man's Relief Corps, - - • - 9x7
Peaslie, Abbie A. C, - - • -505
Peruzzi, Emilia, Contessa, - - • 943
Philanthropy and Charity, - • -939
Philanthropy, Catholic Women's

Part in, 8x8

Philanthropy, Charity, and Religion, 343
Philanthropy, Organization Among
Women Considered with Respect

to» a54

Physical Education for Women, • • 877
Piracy of Brains, Insurance Against, 158
Political Future, Woman's, - - 433
Political Leader, Woman as a, - - 439
Political Liberty, Organization Among
Women as an Instrument in Promot-
ing the Interests of, - - - 463
Political Problems. The Relation of

Woman to Our Present, - - - 505
Political Reform, Civil and, - • 913
Political Status of Woman in Utah,

The Legal and, 913

Political Status of Wpmen, The Civil

and, 413

Politics, Woman as an Actual Force in, 434
Polish Woman in Literature, - - 154
Polish Women, Organized Develop-
ment of, 738

Popelin, Marie, 943

Popular Inculcation of Economy, - 119
Porter, Florence Collins, - - - 391
Position and Influence of Woman in

the Civil Laws, 467

Position of Women in Iceland, - - 770
Position of Women in Syria, - - 773
Position of Woman in the South

American States, - - . . 650
Post Office Missions, • - - - 831
Pottery in the Household, - - - 575
Power of Womanliness in Dealing with

Stern Problems, - - - - 391

Preface, xv

Preparations, 45

President Woman's Branch World's

Congress Auxiliary, Address of, - xx
President World's Congress Auxiliary,

Opening Address of, - - - 8
Primary School and Kindergarten, - 103
Programme of the World's Congress

of Representative Women, - - 67

960

INDEX.

Page
Professions, The Trades and. Under-
lying the Home, 578

Progress of Women in England, - 672
Progress of Women in New South

Wales, 690

Pulpit, Woman in the, - - - lax
Promotion of Social Purity, Educa>
tional Training in Its Bearing upon

the, x»7

Property Rights, Married Women's

Association for, - - - - 527
Protective and Provident League, The

Women's, of Scotland, - - - 6aa
Quesada, Matilda G. de Miro, - - 650
Quinton, Amelia S., Mrs., - - - 240
Reform, Industrial, Social, and Moral, 870
Reform, Moral and Social, - - •813
Relation of the Kindergarten to Manual

Training, 90

Relation of Heredity to a Double

Standard of Morals, - - - 374

Relation of W^oman to Our Present Po-
litical Problems, - - - - 505
Relation of Young Women to Church

Missions, 826

Religion, 8x6, 931

Religion, Charity, Philanthropy, and, 242
Religion, Science and, - - - - 193
Religion, Organization Among Women

an Instrument in Promoting, - 392
Religion, Woman as a Minister of. • 236
Religious Teacher, Woman as a, - 275
Republic of Letters, Woman's Place in

the, 140, 144

Response to an Address of Welcome, - 913
Results of Club Life Among Women

upon the Home, 796

Richards, Emily S., - - - - 9x3
Richmond, Mary E., - - - - 254
Robinson, Jane Bancroft. - - - 244
Rollins, Alice Wellington, - - - 144
Royer, Clemence, Madame, - - 942
Safford, Mary A.,Rev.. - - - -236
Salazar, Fanny Zampini, - - 747, 943

Sartain, Emily, 567

Schirmacher, Kaethe, • • 29, 592
Schmidt, Max, Herr Dr., - - - 940
Science and Philosophy, - - - 932
Science and Religion, - - - - 193
Science, Woman in, - - - - 195
Scotland, The Women's Liberal Feder-
ation of, 5x5

Scudder, Alice May, - - - 279, 840
Seckendorff, Count, ... - 930
Selected Paragraphs from the Formal
Addresses and Impromptu Speeches, 8

Page
Sermon Preached by Rev. Anna H.

Shaw, 857

Sesselberg, Martha, - - - 657

Severance, Caroline M., - - 99

Sewall, May Wright, - i3> 37« 9^9

Shaw, Anna H., Rev., - - 599, 857
Sheldon, May French, - • - 736

Sherwood, Kate Brownlee, - 158, 917
Shipp, Ellis R., Mrs., - - - -221
Siam, Women in Agriculture in, - 765
Sisters of the People, - - - - 303
Smith, Julia Holmes, Dr. , - - * »7

Snedden, Mary C, 930

Snowden, A. Loudon, Hon., - - 944
Social and Civil Evolution of Wo-
man, 3*7

Social Leader, Woman as a. - - 333
Social Purity, Educational Training in

Its Bearing upon the Promotion of, 127
Social Purity, National Christian

League for the Promotion of, • - 880
Social Reform, Moral and, - - 313
Society of Christian Endeavor, Wo-
man's Work in the, - - - - 840
Solidarity of Human Interests, 632,634,619
Somerset, Lady Henry, - - - - 395
South America, Women in, - - 658
South American States, Woman's Posi-
tion in, 650

Spain, Women in, for the Last Pour

Hundred Years, .... 644
Stage and Its Women, - - - - 179
Stage, Woman and the, - - - 164
Stage, Woman's Work upon the, • 188
Stannard, Henrietta E. V. (John

Strange Winter), - - - - 810
Status of Women, The Civil and Poltt.

ical, 4x3

Stanton, Elizabeth Cad y, . -327,482
Stevenson, Adlai E., Mrs., - > 915

Stewart, John W., Mrs., - - 895

Stewart, Sarah A., - - - - 779
St. John, Eugenia T, Rev., - - - 445
Stone, Leander, Mrs,, - - - 207
Storckenfeldt, Sigrid, • - - - 846
Stowe, Emily Howard, Dr., - 233, 332
Strachan, E. S., Mrs., - - - - 833
Strecker, M., Frau. - - - - 941
Strickland, Martha, . - - - 467
Stuckert, Mary Coleman, - - - 625
Suffrage. The Ethics of, . - . 482
Suriya, Lady Linchee, - - - 765
Swedish Woman, Education of the, - 802
Syria, Position of Women in, - - 773

Talbot, Marion, 784

Taylor, Helen. 387

INDEX.

951

Page
Temperance Auociatioxif British Wo>
men's, Origin and Early History

of, 395

Temperance Education, - - - 388
Thayer, Eliva Anne, - - - - a86
Thomas, M. Louise, - - - - 331
Thorborg-Rappe, Baroness, - - a6, 5*7
Tilley, Elizabeth M., • - - 33, 843

Tomel, M. Guy, 943

Toomy, Alice Timmons, - - 339, 598
Toomy, Lily Alice, - - - - a6o

Toppelius, Meri, 35

Trades and Professions Underlying

the Home, 578

Tupper, Mila Frances, Rev., - - 99
Unger, John F., Mrs., - - - - 322
Union, The Moral Reform, - - 387
Unwin, Jane Cobden, - - - 23* 943
UUh, the Legal and Political SUtus

of Woman in, 9x3

Valette, Aline, Madame, - - - 943
Value of the Eastern Star as a Factor
in Giving Women a Better Under-
standing of Business Affairs, and
Especially Those Relating to Legis-
lative Matters, 500

Veneration of the Blessed Virgin, Ele-
vation of Womanhood W^rought

through the, 298

Vice-President Woman's Branch
World's Congress Auxiliary, Ad-
dress of, 12

Vincent, Madame, 943

Volmar, Mrs., 156

W^adsworth, Emily Marshall, - - 603
Weber, Mathilde, Frau, - - - 944
Webster, Helen D., - - - - 692
Webster, Helen L., Prof., - - - 365
Welcome' Address, Bertha M. Honors

Palmer's, ix

Wells, Emmeline B., .... 800
Western Women Authors and Journal-
ists, 800

What Is Marriage? - - - - 599

White, Lois A., 283

Wiggishoff, Madame, - - - - 943

Wilkinson, Laura S., - - - -887

Williams, Fannie Barrier, - - 696

Windeyer, Margaret, - - 24, 345, 437
Winter, John Strange (Henrietta E. V.
Stannard), - - - - - -810

Woman and the Drama; Introductory

Note, 161

Woman and the Stage, - - - - 164
Woman as an Actual Force in Politics, 424
Woman as an Annex, - - - 488

Page
Woman as an Explorer, - - - 736
Woman as a Minister of Religion, - 236
Woman as a Political Leader, - - 439
W^oman as a Social Leader, - - 333
Woman as a Religious Teacher, - - 275
Woman in Education, Ethical Influ-
ence of, - lOJ

Woman in Science, - - - - 195
Woman in the Emotional Drama, - 175
Woman in the Pulpit, - - - 221
Woman in the Republic of Letters, - 144
Woman the New Factor in Eco-
nomics, 539

Womanhood, Elevation of, Wrought
through the Veneration of the
Blessed Virgin, - - - - 298
W^omanliness, Power of, in Dealing

with Stern Problems, - - - - 391
Woman's Branch of the World's Con-
gress Auxiliary, Official Call for the
Congress Issued by the, - - - 60
W** Oman's Call to the Ministry, - 229
Woman's Christian Temperance Un-
ion, National, Bird's-eye View, - 874
Woman's Christian Temperance Un-
ion, World's, Origin, History, and
Development of the, - - - - 400
Woman's Dress from the Standpoint

of Sociology, 354

Woman's Marriage Prospects, the
Effect of Modern Changes in Indus-
trial and Social Life on, - - - 59a
Woman's Missionary Society of the

Methodist Church, Canada, - - 833
Woman's Participation in Municipal

Government, ----- 459
Woman's Place in Hebrew Thought, 267
Woman's Place in the Republic of

Letters, 140

Woman's Political Future, - - 433
Woman's Position and Influence in the

Civil Law, -...-- 467
Woman's Position in the South Ameri-
can States, - - - - - - 650

Woman's Press Association, New Eng-
land, 806

Woman's Relief Corps, The Past,

Present, and Future of the, - - 917
Woman's War for Peace, - - 729, 733
Woman's Work for the Municipality,

One Phase of, 457

Woman's Work in the Society of

Christian Endeavor, . . - - 840
Woman's Work upon the Stage - - 188
Women in Agriculture in Siam, - 765
Woman in Italy, - - - - - 747

952

INDEX.

Women in Mnnictpal Government, 451
Women in South America, • • 658
Women in Spain for the Last Ponr

Hundred Year*, - - • • -644
Women in Syria, Position of, • - 773
Women of Brazil, - - - - - 657
Women's Porce* through Organisa*

lion, Economy of, - - - - 37
Women's Franchise League of Great
Britain and Ireland, Origin and

Objects of, 415

Women's Liberal Federation of Scot-
land, • • 5"5

Women's National Indian Association, $xo

P»«e

Women's Protective and Provident

League of Glasgow, - - 61a

Working Women, Organization of, 871
Work of the Franchise League, • 4J0
World's W^ Oman's Christian Temper-
ance Union, Origin, History, and
Development of the, • • - 400

Writers' Club, 810

Young Woman's Christian Associa-
tion in Sweden, * • • • 846
Young Women's Christian Associa-
tion; lu Aims and Methods, - - 847
Young, Zina D. H., - • - - 384
Zurich, Our Debt to, - - - 69a

f

9073

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